China has accused the United States of transforming from a defender to a “destroyer” of the multilateral trading system in a report on US compliance with its World Trade Organization commitments.
In the report, Beijing laments Washington’s continued resort to “unilateralism, protectionism and bullying hegemonism, which has brought severe shocks to the multilateral trading system,” destabilizing the global economy.
The 65-page report acknowledges the leadership role played by the United States in establishing the multilateral trading system through successive rounds of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations from the 1947 Geneva Round to the last Uruguay Round of trade negotiations.
The United States is also “a principal beneficiary” the multilateral trading system since 1948 when GATT was formally established.
But according to China, the America First “unilateral and trade protectionist measures” taken by the United States in recent years flout and disregard the multilateral rules that Washington created painstakingly over the last 75 years.
The report lists several measures and policies adopted by the United States in 11 key areas, “including tariff and non-tariff barriers, industrial subsidies, agricultural subsidies, trade remedies, standards and technical regulations, trade in services, intellectual property rights, export controls, and economic sanctions, investment review mechanism, Buy America policy, and discriminatory arrangements in international economic and trade cooperation.”
China says it is actively involved with other WTO members “to address the US actions and propositions that have violated the WTO rules and undermined multilateralism, including upholding true multilateralism, promoting restoration of the Appellate Body, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of developing members, making good use of policy review and monitoring functions of the WTO, and upholding the authority of the dispute settlement mechanism.”
The Chinese White Paper lists several allegedly destructive actions adopted by Washington at the WTO.
They include:
Abusing the national security exception;
Engaging in economic coercion;
A double standard manipulator on industrial policies;
Long-term implications of industrial protection policies;
Providing large-scale subsidies to domestic industries under the excuse of “addressing climate change” and
10. Frequently criticizing other members’ legitimate industrial policies.
According to China, the United States has become a “disturber of the Global Industrial and Supply Chains” – which is largely driven by “hegemonism and the Cold War mentality.” It utilizes “unilateral tariff measures to force re-shoring of industrial policies.” China alleges that Washington is reviewing supply chains to pursue “America First” policies and is disrupting “industrial and supply chains by discriminatory means” such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS acts.
Critiquing specific concerns over US policies and measures, China lists areas of sharp concern. They include 1) tariff and non-tariff barriers;2) Tariff peaks and tariff escalation in the US tariff structure; 4) controversial Section 301 measures; 5) Section 232 national security measures; 6) industrial subsidies;7) semiconductors; 8) Photovoltaic; 9) agricultural subsidies; 10) use of zeroing methodology in levying anti-dumping duties and 11) sunset review.
According to China, “In recent years, economic globalization has suffered setbacks.” It argues that “with rising unilateralism and protectionism, the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core has encountered serious challenges.”
China expressed the hope that “as an important member of the WTO, the US should have taken the lead in complying with WTO rules, upholding the basic principles and core values of the WTO, and enhancing the authority and efficacy of the WTO, with a view that this organization can play a more active role in maintaining a free and open international trade order, promoting global economic recovery from the pandemic, and ensuring peace, development, and stability in the world.” But the United States is doing the contrary, China charged.
Beijing said it is unclear if the report could convince the United States “to fulfill its commitments, abide by the rules, and truly return to the community of the rules-based, open, transparent, inclusive and non-discriminatory multilateralism as soon as possible, playing its due role in safeguarding the authority, integrity and efficacy of the multilateral trading system.”
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