U.S. to launch probe into mobile crane imports on national security ground

U.S. Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that it will initiate an investigation into "whether the quantities or circumstances of mobile crane imports into the United States threaten to impair the national security."

This decision follows a petition filed by domestic producer, The Manitowoc Company, Inc., on Dec. 19, 2019, requesting the department to launch an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

Manitowoc alleges that increased imports of low-priced mobile cranes, particularly from Germany, Austria, and Japan, and intellectual property infringement by foreign competition, have harmed the domestic mobile crane manufacturing industry, the statement read.

"We will conduct this review thoroughly and expeditiously," said Ross. The Department of Homeland Security has identified mobile cranes as a critical industry because of their extensive use in national defense applications, as well as in critical infrastructure sectors, said the statement.

The Trump administration has repeatedly invoked the previously seldom-used "Section 232," drawing opposition from domestic and international business communities and raising concern about growing protectionism.

In March 2018, Trump announced that the United States would slap a 25-percent tariff on steel and 10-percent tariff on aluminum, citing "Section 232" investigation. The administration has also launched similar probes on imported cars and parts, uranium and titanium sponge.

Earlier this week, the Commerce Department announced that it will launch a "Section 232" national security probe into certain imported components for power transformers.

(CGTN)