A bipartisan group of 50 US lawmakers called on Friday for an investigation into whether a Chinese investment in the US steel sector should be blocked on national security grounds.

The group, in a letter to US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said Anshan Iron and Steel Group could gain "access to new steel production technologies and information regarding American national security infrastructure projects" as a result of its recently announced joint venture with the Steel Development Company.

US lawmakers urge probe of Chinese steel investment

The Chinese state-owned firm, also known as Angang, confirmed in May it would invest in a USD 175 million rebar facility under construction in Amory, Mississippi. Rebar is a reinforcing steel bar commonly used in concrete and masonry structures.

The move comes at a time when US steel companies have been complaining loudly about unfair competition from China and have won a number of US anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese steel goods.

"Anshan is China's fourth-largest steel producer and the product of massive Chinese government subsidies, and we are deeply concerned that their direct investment in an American steel company threatens American jobs and our national security," the Congressional Steel Caucus said in their letter to Geithner.

Chinese government control of the company "enables Anshan to easily obtain subsidized financing, even in today's economic conditions, which could allow them to distort the American market and force American steelworkers to compete against a blank check," they said.

Published on Sat, Jul 03, 2010 at 09:55   |  Updated at Sat, Jul 03, 2010 at 12:49  | 

Source: www.moneycontrol.com