WTO Finds US Tariffs on China Violated Trade Rules
Tariffs the US imposed on China in 2018 violated international trade rules, the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2020) Tariffs the US imposed on China in 2018 violated international trade rules, the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday.
In 2018, China requested that the WTO form a panel to probe the validity of sanctions imposed by the United States on its goods after bilateral discussions proved fruitless.
"In summary, the Panel concluded that the United States had not provided an explanation demonstrating how the imposition of additional duties on the selected imported products in List 1 and List 2 was apt to contribute to the public morals objective invoked, and, following on from that, how they were necessary to protect public morals. The Panel found, accordingly, that the United States had not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures are provisionally justified under Article XX(a)," the WTO said in a ruling.
The United States alleged that China engaged in unjust trade practices, including "state-sanctioned theft" of US technology, intellectual property, and commercial secrets.
The panel consisting of countries, including Russia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, India, Japan and Kazakhstan, said in its decision that it did not receive an adequate explanation from US representatives about the relationship between the tariffs and the public morals argument presented.
The United States has not initiated a reciprocal process disputing retaliatory Chinese tariffs, the WTO panel said.
The panel urged the United States and China to continue to pursue bilateral negotiations to settle the disputes raised in the challenge.
The tariff confrontation between the United States and China has been spiraling since US President Donald Trump's decision in June 2018 to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. Last May, Washington more than doubled import duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods. China retaliated by hiking tariffs on US imports later that year.