China is seeking US$2.4 billion in retaliatory sanctions against the United States after it failed to comply with a WTO ruling in a tariffs case dating to Barack Obama’s presidency, according to a document published on Monday. A World Trade Organisation appeals panel said in July that the US did not fully comply with a ruling and could face sanctions from China if it does not drop the tariffs that break the watchdog’s rules. China said: “In response to the United States’ continued non-compliance with the (WTO Dispute Settlement Body’s) recommendations and rulings, China requests authorisation from the DSB to suspend concessions and related obligations at an annual amount of US$2.4 billion.” The US failed to comply with the recommendations and rulings within the specified period and no agreement on compensation was reached, it said. China went to the WTO in 2012 to challenge US anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese exports including solar panels, wind towers, steel cylinders and aluminium extrusions, exports that China valued at US$7.3 billion at the time. The duties were imposed as the result of 17 investigations by US commerce officials between 2007 and 2012. China’s request appeared on DSB’s agenda for October 28. The US could challenge the amount of sanctions sought, which could send the dispute to arbitration. WTO opens way for Chinese sanctions against US tariffs in Obama-era dispute The office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the WTO ruling recognised that Washington had proved that China used state-owned enterprises to subsidise and distort its economy. But the ruling also said the US must accept Chinese prices to measure subsidies, even though Lighthizer’s office viewed those prices as “distorted”. China and US President Donald Trump’s government are locked in a tit-for-tat trade war. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday that China’s “serious commitment” to buy up to $50 billion worth of US agricultural goods as part of a so-called phase 1 trade deal would depend in part on private companies and market conditions. Trump said on Friday he thought a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies would be signed by the time the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings take place in Chile on November 16 and 17.