The United States should take immediate action to correct wrongdoing in trade practices against China, the commerce ministry in Beijing said on Thursday, after a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that let China impose tariffs on US goods.
The WTO ruling is of great significance for correcting illegal countervailing practices of the United States and safeguarding the trade interests of Chinese firms, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
“The ruling once again attested that the United States has long violated WTO rules, abused trade remedy measures and refused to fulfil its international obligations ordered by WTO or stipulated in WTO rules. This has seriously damaged the fair and just international trade environment,” Gao Feng, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday.
“China urges the US to stop looking for excuses and immediately take action to correct its wrongdoings in trade remedy investigations against China.”
On Wednesday, the WTO authorised China to impose US$645 million of compensatory tariffs against the US, a ruling that was immediately blasted by Washington.
China went to the WTO in 2012 to challenge anti-subsidy tariffs the US imposed between 2008 and 2012, mainly during the term of US president Barack Obama, on 22 Chinese products ranging from solar panels to steel wire.
The decade-long case involving alleged subsidies has centred on whether the US could treat Chinese firms in which the government owns a majority stake as controlled by the state.
The US, which has argued that China benefits from easier treatment at the WTO while subsidising manufactured goods and dumping them on world markets, said the decision underscored the need to reform WTO rules that had been used to “shield China’s non-market economic practices and undermine fair, market-oriented competition”.
The deeply disappointing decision by the WTO arbitrator reflects erroneous Appellate Body interpretations that damage the ability of WTO members to defend our workers and businesses from China’s trade-distorting subsidies.-
“The deeply disappointing decision by the WTO arbitrator reflects erroneous Appellate Body interpretations that damage the ability of WTO members to defend our workers and businesses from China’s trade-distorting subsidies,” Adam Hodge, spokesman for the US Trade Representative’s Office, said in a statement.
China had initially asked the three-person WTO panel to award it the right to impose tariffs on US$2.4 billion of US goods.
The actual award is dwarfed by US tariffs on more than US$300 billion of Chinese goods imposed by former US president Donald Trump, most of which are still in place.
However, the ruling is another symbolic victory for Beijing at the Geneva-based trade body. In November 2019, the WTO awarded China the right to retaliatory tariffs of US$3.58 billion after finding fault with the way Washington determined whether Chinese products are being dumped on the US market.
Fuente:
China Macro Economy-https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3164955/china-tells-us-stop-looking-excuses-correct-trade?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cm&utm_campaign=enlz-today_international&utm_content=20220127&tpcc=enlz-today_international&UUID=01011a9a-399a-4710-abaf-0f83b00c062d&next_article_id=3164945&article_id_list=3164934,3164903,3164901,3164955,3164945,3164941,3164946,3164915&tc=21&CMCampaignID=4718959380e97728a5732f80b1d4eac0
