Japan Joins the Wall Against Chinese Steel, and Brazil Feels It

Markets & Finance · Intelligence

—The move. Japan opened an investigation on June 1 into whether steel from China, South Korea and Taiwan is being sold below fair value, the first step toward possible duties.

—Not yet a tariff. The probe will run about a year before Tokyo decides anything, so the headlines calling it an imposed tariff jumped ahead of the facts.

—The pattern. Japan joins the United States, the European Union, Australia, India and others that have already walled off cheap Chinese steel.

—The cause. China makes far more steel than it uses, leaving a surplus larger than Brazil’s entire annual output hunting for foreign buyers.