In “The U.S. and EU Shake Up Global Trade” (Global View, Nov. 2), Walter Russell Mead overcelebrates the U.S.-EU steel agreement concluded at the Group of 20 summit in Rome. He says that for U.S. labor the deal “can be packaged as ‘foreign policy for the middle class,’ limiting low-wage competition from China.” He cites President Biden, who flagged in Rome that the agreement will limit access to U.S. markets for “dirty steel from countries like China.”

Both the president and Mr. Mead would have been well served by looking...

President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shake hands in Rome, Oct. 31.

Photo: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS

In “The U.S. and EU Shake Up Global Trade” (Global View, Nov. 2), Walter Russell Mead overcelebrates the U.S.-EU steel agreement concluded at the Group of 20 summit in Rome. He says that for U.S. labor the deal “can be packaged as ‘foreign policy for the middle class,’ limiting low-wage competition from China.” He cites President Biden, who flagged in Rome that the agreement will limit access to U.S. markets for “dirty steel from countries like China.”

Both the president and Mr. Mead would have been well served by looking at the hard facts of trade before going overboard with sweeping statements about market and climate impacts of Chinese steel imports. There is actually little room to constrain Chinese steel exports to America: China does not even make the top-10 list of foreign steel suppliers to the U.S. Last year, by volume, China accounted for less than 2% of our global steel imports. Blind anti-China policy reflexes can unwittingly result in much ado about (almost) nothing.

Istvan Dobozi

Sarasota, Fla.

Mr. Dobozi was a lead economist at the World Bank.