The United States is pushing for action against excess industrial capacity that drives prices down unfairly, Washington's top trade envoy said Wednesday on the sidelines of a G20 meeting, with some countries -- excluding China -- agreeing to a plan that includes reducing subsidies.
The developments came as officials from the Group of 20 major economies convened in the Midwestern city of Milwaukee over two days, with a group of countries separately agreeing on a framework to counter "persistent" excess steel production.
Overcapacity is a criticism often leveled against China, with accusations that it produces more than it consumes, flooding markets. Beijing rejects these claims.
"We're releasing a Milwaukee framework to take coordinated action on steel excess capacity," top US trade official Jamieson Greer told reporters Wednesday.
"Every country will do what they think is appropriate. We want to coordinate those measures," Greer added. "The United States has taken robust measures, and it probably makes sense for other countries to do that too."
He did not elaborate on whether he meant for countries to raise trade barriers on Chinese steel.
The framework was released after a meeting of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity. Its 28 members include the European Union, Australia, Japan and South Korea -- but not China.
Asked about his message to partners this week on overcapacity, China's international trade representative Li Chenggang told AFP early Wednesday that G20 members had yet to discuss the topic.
Besides plans to reduce or eliminate "market-distorting subsidies," members of the steel global forum also agreed to boost data sharing to help identify "suspicious patterns of steel trade," according to the framework.
It added that, if needed, members would also take "trade measures" against countries that overproduce. Such measures could include tariffs.
As G20 trade ministers opened talks Wednesday, a traditional "family photo" was taken twice, allowing European leaders to be separated from Russia's representative, sources told AFP.
European leaders have declined to appear with Russia in G20 photos, with some noting this year that doing so sends a troubling message following Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump's global tariffs also cast a pall over the G20 talks, pushing countries to seek cooperation outside the world's biggest economy.
The meetings come amid a deepening US-Canada trade war, waves of US tariffs and Trump's investigations into member countries over excess industrial capacity.
Analysts expect few breakthroughs as trade tensions simmer.
Countries are seeking deals with the Trump administration, with India pushing to get a trade pact over the finish line. Brazil said it held a "constructive" in-person meeting with Greer too.
Still, the threat of further tariffs looms even over those that have struck deals, as US investigations into overcapacity target 16 trading partners including China, the EU, Japan and India.
Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski urged Wednesday for a lowering of trade barriers.
"I do hope that our US partners will stick to all settlements that were made," he added, referring to an earlier deal between the United States and the European Union to cap Trump's duties on the bloc at 15 percent.
Of such tariff deals, Greer told reporters Tuesday: "We will certainly take them into account."
But he added that he was not in a rush to reach a pact with Canada, where certain products now face a US ban due to their trade spat.
"Eventually, it will happen," he said.
Also on the agenda this week are efforts to eliminate forced labor and the targeting of food access to pressure others.
Domanski condemned "all actions taken by Russia against the export of agriculture products from Ukraine" in their war.
Poland is not a permanent G20 member but has been invited to the table this year as Washington holds the grouping's rotating presidency. In turn, US officials have excluded South Africa.
The G20 trade ministerial comes after finance ministers met in Asheville, setting the stage for a leaders' summit in Miami.
The G20 comprises 19 nations plus the EU and the African Union.