the Minister of trade United States Wilbur Ross announced today that his office will launch an investigation into the supply of mobile crane systems in the United States as a threat to national security.
This decision followed a petition filed by the American manufacturer The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (Manitowoc) 19 December 2019, with a request to the Ministry of Commerce to initiate an investigation of imports of mobile cranes in accordance with article 232 of the Law on the trade expansion of 1962.
Manitowoc claims that cheap imports and infringement of intellectual property rights has led to the closure of one of its two production plants in the United States and the loss of hundreds of skilled jobs in Wisconsin.
"We will conduct this review thoroughly and expeditiously," said Secretary Ross. "This investigation will help to determine whether the imported mobile cranes in such quantities or in such circumstances that can threaten U.S. national security".
Commission on international trade USA (USITC), noted that the imports of mobile cranes increased by 152% between 2014 and 2019, and in 2015 it was found that a Chinese manufacturer misappropriated six trade secrets and violated patent, resulting in the USITC banned the sale of Chinese crane systems in the United States.
Previously reported that the Commerce Department was investigating import transformer cores as a threat to national security. Also, according to Washington, the country's national security is threatened all imports of steel and aluminum.
Article 232 of the law of the United States "On the expansion of trade," 1962 (Trade Expansion Act), gives the President the exclusive right to impose customs duties without consultation with Congress or any other authority. The law was written in the era of the Cuban missile crisis and was intended to ensure the independence of the US industry from imports of defense products, especially from countries that the U.S. does not consider their allies during the war and not rely on the reliability of their supply.
Thus, the logic of the cold war transferred to the international trading system and international partners become dangerous rivals. In this logic the concept of national security applies not only to the threat of armed conflicts and emergency situations, but also on the share of the domestic U.S. market of imported cars, electronics, steel products or any other commodity.
