Beijing slaps EU, Japan, South Korea with steel duties

China said Sunday it has started imposing anti-dumping tariffs on certain steel imports from the European Union, Japan and South Korea, as Beijing itself comes under fire for similar trade practices. Duties on the materials, used in power transformers and electric motors, will range from around 37 to as high as 46.3 percent, the commerce ministry said on its website.
The measures are intended to prevent the sale of the product at below cost, a practice known as dumping, it added.
The world's second largest economy, which makes more than half the world's steel, finds itself under attack by EU countries for allegedly flooding world markets with steel and aluminium in violation of international trade agreements.
On Friday Premier Li Keqiang told a group of visiting leaders from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other organisations that China "will not engage in a trade war or currency war".