Importers are pressuring the federal government to justify the hefty tariffs levied on everything from kitchen sinks to steel bars and aluminium pipes, which they claim have driven up construction costs and pushed manufacturing offshore.

Mr Medina, the managing director of One Stop Pallet Racking, said his business was down 30 per cent in the year to March (prior to the COVID-19 disruption), which had seen him cut distributors and hire fewer contractors.
“It’s crazy because I can’t even get the product I want in Australia, but I still have to pay tariffs,” he said.
The tariffs were imposed following a complaint from Dematic, a German-owned company that uses steel from BlueScope.
David Roberts, trading director of steel importer SANWA, said the government needed to implement an anti-dumping system not so heavily weighted in favour of Australian domestic producers.
“We need to have a fairer and more transparent anti-dumping regime, protecting the greater public interest and not just that of BlueScope and Infrabuild (Liberty OneSteel),” said Mr Roberts, who is vice president of the Australian Steel Association, which represents the interests of steel importers.
“People need to know that these duties drive up construction costs, hurt competition and make it harder for most Australian manufacturers beyond the two big steel monopolies.”
Bluescope and Liberty OneSteel are the main complainants to the Anti-Dumping Commission.
Steel industry veteran Ray Horsburgh defended the local industry saying anti-dumping cases were the last resort for producers.
“It’s not an easy road. It’s very bureaucratic,” he said. “Often the matter being complained about is already finished because the market has moved on.”
Mr Horsburgh, who was chief executive of Smorgon Steel for 15 years until its 2007 merger with OneSteel, said actions were only pursued when there was clear-cut evidence of dumping.
Mr Horsburgh became a director of Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel group in April and emphasised that he was speaking about his personal experiences over decades in the industry.
Warwick Beutler, who runs six independent plumbing supply stores in Canberra and southern NSW, said uncompetitive local manufactures were hiding behind the Anti-Dumping Commission.
In March he was hit with duties of 13.4 per cent on sinks imported from China, while others were being charged as much as 54 per cent.
“We have never been questioned by the Anti-Dumping Commission so I have no idea how they reached a conclusion that our sinks have been dumped in Australia,” he said.
“Australia runs the risk of becoming an international trade pariah if it continues with this nonsense.”
Mr Medina said China was always painted as the “bad guy” in trade disputes, but people needed to realise that Australia has a long history of protecting its local industries.
“I feel very sorry for the beef and barley growers who are getting caught up in this mess because of how Australia has behaved on products like steel,” he said.
On Sunday, China indicated it would levy import duties of up to 80 per cent on Australian barley, while on Tuesday four Australian abattoirs had their import licences revoked by Beijing.