China syndromeLawmakers say Chinese investment in a U.S. steel mill poses national security risks
A Chinese steel company — China’s fourth largest — plans to invest in a Mississippi-based steel maker; this is the first investment by a Chinese company in a U.S. mill; fifty U.S. lawmakers write the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury urging him to block the deal; they argue that the investment poses a national security risk as Anshan Steel is controlled by the Chinese government
Anshan Iron & Steel Group, part of China’s fourth-largest steelmaker, said it is making its investment decision in the United States based on market needs after a group of U.S. lawmakers opposed the plan.
The “investment decisions in the United States are commercial in nature and are based on market needs,” the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “We are committed to mutually beneficial relationships with our business partners and with our stakeholders in the community.”
Bloomberg reports that Anshan Steel in May agreed to build a reinforcing bar plant with Armory, Mississippi-based Steel Development Co., making a first investment by a Chinese company in a U.S. mill. The investment poses a national security risk as Anshan Steel is controlled by the Chinese government, a group of fifty U.S. lawmakers said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.
“U.S. only welcomes China to buy its bonds and commercial products while protecting its less-competitive companies,” said Le Yukun, a Shanghai-based analyst at BOC International Ltd. “It doesn’t want to see Chinese companies gradually erode its local brand products.”
The United States has slapped duties on some Chinese steel products in the past year, arguing that the Asian nation subsidizes its producers. Chinese steel product exports have doubled in the first four months of the year as the global economy recovers.
Steel Development is a privately owned company led by Chairman John Correnti, a former executive at Nucor Corp., according to its Web site.
