This Morning in Metals: China Reportedly Pushes for Partial Trade Deal with U.S.
This morning in metals news, China could be pushing for a partial trade deal with the U.S., the Trump administration criticized the Louisiana governor over his characterization of the reasons for Bayou Steel Group’s closure and copper ticked up Wednesday.
Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.
U.S.-China Move Toward Next Round of Talks
The road to the next round of U.S.-China trade talks, scheduled to begin Thursday, has been fairly bumpy.
In recent days, the U.S.’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has found itself in a PR crisis following a since-deleted tweet by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, who expressed support for anti-government protestors in Hong Kong.
As a result, Chinese broadcasters have severed ties with the organization, which boasts a sizable Chinese following.
On Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security announced it would add 28 Chinese organizations to its Entity List, calling out human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
However, according to a CNBC report, China is looking to make some concessions toward a partial trade deal. Among those concessions, according to the report, includes an agreement to increase purchases of agricultural products from the U.S.
Trump Administration Criticizes Louisiana Governor’s Bayou Steel Comments
On the heels of the bankruptcy of Bayou Steel Group, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards indicated the closure of the business could at least in part be linked with the Trump administration’s tariffs.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s assistant for trade and manufacturing policy, struck back at the characterization.
“This is comically bad staff work: there are no tariffs on inbound recycled scrap and there is an abundance of cheap scrap on domestic soil,” Navarro was quoted as saying by nola.com. “Bayou Steel folded like a cheap tent under the weight of a leveraged buyout by Wall Street vultures picking the carcass of a highly inefficient and antiquated plant. Ironically, the Trump steel tariffs actually kept Bayou Steel as a going concern longer than it otherwise would have existed.
Copper Moves Up
With the next round of U.S.-China trade talks set to begin Thursday, copper prices inched up Wednesday.
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LME copper moved up 0.3% to $5,691/mt, Reuters reported.
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