China accuses US of threatening World Trade Organisation’s future as trade war heats up
- Beijing does not directly point finger at Washington but criticises a ‘certain member’ for unilaterally raising trade barriers and imposing import tariffs
China said on Monday that US policies are threatening the existence of the World Trade Organisation, setting out a string of grievances in a WTO “reform proposal” published by the WTO on its website.
Since entering office, Donald Trump has taken a tough line on the WTO, accusing it of unfairly penalising US trade while being soft on China, which had a far smaller economy when it joined the WTO in 2001.
The US President has threatened US withdrawal unless the WTO can “shape up” and has blocked judicial appointments at the WTO’s Appellate Body, effectively the supreme court of world trade, meaning that trade disputes could go into legal limbo from December.
China did not name the United States in the document, but referred to the block on the appointment of WTO appeals judges and “national security” tariffs on aluminium, steel and cars, policies uniquely associated with Washington.
The document was posted just as China and the United States ratcheted up their trade war.
Beijing said on Monday it would impose higher tariffs on a range of US goods including frozen vegetables and liquefied natural gas, defying a warning from Trump not to retaliate after Washington raised tariffs on US$200 billion in Chinese imports.