WTO rejects China’s Trump-era 2018 tariffs against US exports
CHINA violated its fundamental trade commitments when it imposed tariffs on US$2.4 billion worth of US products in retaliation for former President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium duties, the World Trade Organization said.
In a ruling published Wednesday (Aug 16), a panel of three WTO experts agreed with Washington’s claims that China’s tariffs denied the treatment as a so-called most favoured nation, and that Beijing violated other trade concessions it made when it joined the WTO.
The organisation’s most favoured nation principle is a commitment by its 164 members to treat other signatories in an indiscriminate manner or else provide compensation in the form of trade concessions.
Either China or the US may appeal the ruling within the next 60 days. If Beijing appeals, it will act as a veto because the WTO appellate body has been non-functional since 2019. A spokesman from the Chinese mission to the WTO did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
The dispute dates back to the early days of Trump’s trade war when his administration imposed 25 per cent tariffs on global steel imports and 10 per cent tariffs on aluminium imports.
The US metal tariffs, which were aimed at kerbing an influx of cheap Chinese steel and aluminium, provoked a response from Beijing, which filed a WTO complaint and imposed tariffs on a range of imported US goods including aluminium waste and scrap, pork, fruits and nuts.
The US responded with a counter dispute alleging the Chinese duties and separately claimed that the metal tariffs were necessary to protect US national security.
In December 2022, a separate WTO panel said the US metal duties were not justified under the WTO’s national security exemption in a ruling that the Biden administration strongly rejected. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium still remain in effect. BLOOMBERG
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