China has had a tough time of late with the USA. The country has been subject to antidumping investigations that have scrutinised some of its core industries – the latest of these being paper and refractory bricks.
Unsurprisingly, the world’s leading paper producer slammed the USA’s decision to hand out duties to its producers; with China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesman, Yao Jian, describing the USA’s countervailing probes into Chinese exports “discriminatory”.
Yao also said weak demand in the US paper market resulted from the financial crisis rather than unfair competition, and that passing the problem on to...