[bitchypat]

It is posited that in fact it is clear - in the article no less!

>In Mexico, Mr. Shen was implementing an audacious plan, according to people familiar with the matter: A network of trading companies could route hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum from China to Mexico, where a plant would melt it for shipment to the U.S., evading trade restrictions and claiming North American Free Trade Agreement benefits.

[lalos]

Might as well include

> Meanwhile, setbacks were piling up. Trucks and metal were stolen from the Mexico facility, slowing deliveries, former Aluminicaste employees say. The company failed to obtain Nafta benefits after U.S. authorities concluded that the metal came from China.

[loeg]

And why is that a problem, exactly? In the end aluminum is fungible for aluminum, and the US is getting aluminum from Mexico under NAFTA. Trying to enforce a tariff on element production from a subset of external countries seems sisyphean.

[gthtjtkt]

> And why is that a problem, exactly?

It says in the article: American companies are being put out of business by heavily-subsidized Chinese companies.

> Trying to enforce a tariff on element production from a subset of external countries seems sisyphean.

Apparently not:

> The company failed to obtain NAFTA benefits after U.S. authorities concluded that the metal came from China.

It helps to read the article you're commenting on ;)

[JoeAltmaier]

But there are essentially no tariffs any more. Not sure how NAFTA changed that. But assuming its true: aluminum is fungible as mentioned. Providing more to Mexico means they can export more of their own to the US.

[brohoolio]

If China is greatly subsidizing the aluminum production then then how will US producers compete?

It's in the US's interests that they don't allow another country to manipulate the market to destroy the US production capacity. Once that capacity is online the foreign country can then raise prices.

It's not easy or cheap to bring production capacity online.

[riphay]

It could be well within the Chinese government agenda to have broader control over global productive capacity. Impossible to prove, I know.

Generally I'm pro-free trade, but the issue gets quite messy when you consider government subsidies. As a Canadian, this discussion comes up frequently along the lines of the subsidized agriculture sector.

[patrickburke]

the doc death by china covers some of these issues... not free trade by a long shot, more like an ongoing trade war

[sverige]

Exactly why the Saudis are doing their best to kill the US fracking industry.

[makomk]

Worse still, China could actually start enforcing their restrictions on exporting raw aluminium and drive non-Chinese manufacturing industry out of business by cutting off their supply of feedstock, as they also tried to do with rare earth metals.

[thwarted]

This reminds me of "What Color are your bits?" — http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23

[1_2__3]

That is not how global trade works. In fact what's being described is essentially laundering and the Feds take a very dim view of that.

[ZoF]

>Trying to enforce a tariff on element production from a subset of external countries seems sisyphean.

I loved fantasy books as well.

[senorjazz]

Does this count as raw metal hacking to disrupt the aluminium industry?

[criley2]

It just counts as standard issue fraud, it's a basic laundering scheme.

He's, simply, laundering Chinese aluminum through Mexico.