The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) president and chief executive officer Kevin Dempsey sent an open letter to US President Donald Trump urging him to press Chinese President Xi Jinping to end China's surge in exports of excess steel and the subsidies to its steel industry, ahead of the two leaders' talks at the White House.
Xi arrived in Washington on September 23 for a state visit running through September 25. This is his first to the US in more than a decade, with talks between the two leaders scheduled for September 24.
In the letter, Dempsey said that because of Section 232 steel tariffs, the US steel industry is finally recovering and that the US surpassed Japan last year to become the world's third largest steel producer. He continued that more tariffs and protections were needed to ensure American longevity and that President Trump should encourage other countries to do the same to curb China's overcapacity.
According to the latest analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cited in the letter, global steel overcapacity is projected to rise to 745 million mt by 2028, while China's steelmaking capacity in 2025 represented almost half of global capacity. AISI noted that Chinese steel exports reached 131 million mt in 2025 after several years of declining domestic demand, an amount roughly equal to North America's combined steel consumption.
To remedy this, Dempsey called on the US to maintain the Section 232 steel tariffs and the Section 301 tariffs on China until the overcapacity crisis is eliminated, and said any tariffs resulting from the Office of the US Trade Representative's (USTR) Section 301 excess capacity investigations must be stacked on top of the existing duties.
The letter also urged Trump to keep Chinese automakers and automotive technologies out of the US market, stating that China has exported more than seven million cars so far this year and could export as many as 12 million in 2026. AISI said Chinese connected vehicles pose national security risks and that allowing Chinese automakers into the US would create new avenues for tariff evasion and for subsidized inputs to enter the domestic supply chain.
This meeting is the two presidents' third in person meeting in about 11 months, following their October 2025 meeting in Busan, South Korea, and Trump's state visit to Beijing in May this year.
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