WASHINGTON — In filing its first major complaint of unfair trade practices by accusing China of restricting competitors' access to raw materials, the Obama administration raised hopes among U.S. manufacturers and unions that it would move aggressively to defend their interests in the global economy.
But whether the complaint filed Tuesday on behalf of U.S. producers of steel, aluminum and chemicals was the harbinger of a broad-based attack or just a symbolic step to fulfill a campaign promise remains an open question.
The complaint, filed with the World Trade Organization by the European Union as well as the U.S., accused China of restricting exports of various materials including zinc and coke, a key component for making steel, by establishing export quotas, duties and other restraints.
Those actions, U.S. trade officials say, have inflated global prices of those products, giving an unfair edge to Chinese manufacturers that use the materials in making such products as cars and aluminum baseball bats.
The export curbs have "really made Chinese steel artificially competitive and hurt a lot of companies in the U.S. and others trying to compete with it," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Assn. of Manufacturers.
"China's policies on these raw materials seem to be a giant thumb on the scale in favor of Chinese producers. It's our job to make sure we remove that thumb from that scale," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in announcing the complaint.
Reiterating a point he made at his confirmation hearing this year, Kirk said that enforcing trade agreements would be a top administration priority. "We believe that trade can be a critical part of our economic and other countries' economic revival, but if you're going to do business with the United States, you're going to have to play by the rules," he said.
Analysts in the U.S. described the case against China as strong and said it would probably push the Chinese to back away from the export restraints rather than let the dispute go to adjudication before the world trade group.
There was no immediate reaction from the Chinese government about the complaint, but Beijing previously has said trade rules allow it to place restrictions on the materials, which also include magnesium and yellow phosphorus, because they are exhaustible natural resources of the country.
