Donald Trump made another important and scripted speech yesterday focused on globalization and free trade. This speech took place in a Pennsylvania recycling plant, in a battleground swing state that has been hit hard by the changing global economy. Early on in the speech he referred to a scandal about imported steel, that was revealed to be heavily subsidized by the Chinese government.

“When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians have proven, folks, have proven, they do nothing,” Trump said.

Actually, the “politicians” applied a massive tariff to the offending steel, taxing it as much as 236% depending on the amount of the subsidy. After the Department of Commerce discovered the scheme in March 2016 they quickly applied a tariff to steel from the offending countries, including China, India, Taiwan and Italy. The offense is know as “dumping,” when a company, or group of companies, receive government subsidies that allow them to sell their products below cost in order to artificially gain market share.

Sources:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/fact-checking-trump-s-speech-trade-n600566
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-03/u-s-commerce-finds-china-steel-subsidies-of-as-much-as-236-
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-imposes-266-duty-on-some-chinese-steel-imports-1456878180