The World Trade Organization held its first hearing on the US steel import tariff issue in late October. Delegates from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation headed for the trade body's headquarters in Geneva.
China and the EU, Japan, South Korea and Norway have presented their cases in what is the first such hearing on the issue. The final decision from the expert panel is expected to be made public by the end of next March. China's steel industry took a blow from the US steel tariffs in March, when the US imposed tariffs of up to 30 percent on steel imports from a number of countries, including China. The conflict, together with China's WTO entry, led to a big jump in Chinese steel imports and a fall in exports during the first half of this year. To protect domestic steel producers, China, in May, imposed a 180－day safeguard measure, the first emergency import restriction since its WTO entry.
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