News Center

On July 16, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced that it had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to take retaliatory tariff measures against the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico and Turkey. This is another farce staged by the United States to sabotage, abuse WTO rules and implement trade bullying.

　　US 'exceptional' stirs backlash

"The confused logic of the United States is puzzling by blatantly and maliciously breaking WTO rules and going to the WTO to file a complaint." In an interview with reporters, Tu Xinquan, dean of the China World Trade Organization Research Institute of the University of International Business and Economics, said that the United States' approach to suing its trading partners to the WTO is very overbearing and funny, and it is a manifestation of anger.

Tu Xinquan believes that as a WTO member, the United States has the right to question the trade restrictive measures taken by other members against the United States and to request consultations in accordance with the WTO dispute settlement procedures, but there is no doubt that the United States is a defendant in the first place. Up to now, eight WTO members have filed lawsuits against the "232 measures" of the United States. According to the usual interpretation of existing rules, the United States has little chance of winning the lawsuit. This also means that even if the United States files a counterclaim, the WTO will first rule on whether the US measures are illegal and require the United States to withdraw the "232 measures" before discussing whether the countermeasures of other members are legal.

U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer issued a statement earlier, accusing WTO members who counter the United States of violating relevant rules, based on the so-called "WTO's national security exception clause". Tu Xinquan believes that as long as anyone with a little common sense of WTO law knows that the "WTO's national security exception clause" refers to matters directly related to war, weapons, or when the country is facing an emergency, and the U.S. steel and aluminum trade has nothing to do with these conditions. In the face of WTO rules, the United States has no "exception".

According to French reports, after the United States filed a complaint with the WTO, many countries quickly refuted the so-called "reasons" of the United States. The Mexican Ministry of Economy stated that "Mexico's exports of steel and aluminum to the United States will not pose any threat to the national security of the United States. Our response measures are based on the fact that the United States has unfairly imposed tariffs on absurd media reasons". A spokesman for the European Commission said that the EU's retaliatory measures against the United States are in line with WTO regulations. The Canadian government believes that Canada's tit-for-tat tariff retaliation measures against the United States are in line with the dual provisions of the WTO and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Even many public opinions in the United States believe that the reasons of the United States are "full of loopholes and logical errors". In the view of American International Trade Reporter Alex Lawson, the United States is spreading a "sacred smoke", which is extremely absurd. A comment from a netizen on the US "Market" website was also a mockery: "It's funny! Poking the world in the eye and being countered by the world, and now going to the WTO to cry!"

Trump has publicly stated that WTO rules have caused "the United States to lose every case at the WTO". However, according to a study by the Cato Institute in the United States, from March 1995 to 2017, the United States appealed its trading partners to the WTO in 114 cases, with 91% of the cases won.

　　China's commitment to the world certainly

"It is impossible to imagine what multilateral cooperation in the world today would be like without China's active participation, especially for the WTO. China's fulfillment of its commitments to the WTO has won high praise." On July 13, the seventh trade policy review of China by the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended in Geneva, said Didier Chabowei, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the WTO.

During the review, a record number of questions and statements were made by WTO members, with 70 members speaking and 42 members asking 1963 written questions. China answered one by one, and its performance was perfect, showing the responsibility and determination that a big country should have. The US proposal to "re-examine China's membership in the WTO" was unanimously rejected by 70 members.

For some time, the United States has frequently accused China of not complying with WTO rules and used this as an important reason for implementing unilateral trade measures against China.

The obvious significance of the outcome of this review is that the groundless accusations made by the United States have been rejected and China has once again won the respect of the world.

"This trade policy review is an excellent platform to express China's views and clarify some mistakes or vague understandings of China's implementation of WTO commitments at home and abroad." Tu Xinquan said that together with the white paper on China and the World Trade Organization published in June this year, China has once again made clear to the world that it will firmly defend the basic principles and core values of the multilateral trading system and continue to play a responsible role as a major country through its own development.

With regard to the United States provoking a trade war with China, international trade experts generally believe that the implementation of "301" discriminatory tariffs by the United States is an unprecedented challenge to the basic principles of the WTO since the establishment of the WTO, and fundamentally violates the most important principle of most-favored-nation treatment in the multilateral trading system. Under the WTO framework, China resolutely countered the trade war provoked by the United States, which was reasonable and legal.

The principle of WTO is unshakable.

"The WTO is already in a state of overload operation, and the United States provoking a 'wave of prosecutes' can only increase the burden on the WTO." German news television recently commented that the WTO is in the most difficult period since its establishment: on the one hand, the organizational structure is too "aging" and needs reform; on the other hand, it is the interference of the United States.

The Associated Press reported that the U.S. approach is sinister and contradictory. On the one hand, it believes that the agency is always "dragging its feet" when mediating trade disputes. On the other hand, it stops appointing candidates to the WTO's appeal body, which has led to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The appeal mechanism is on the verge of paralysis. Therefore, it is difficult for the WTO to reach a final resolution on the appeal of the United States.

In this regard, Zhang Xiangchen, China's permanent representative to the World Trade Organization, said that whether the WTO can get out of the predicament depends on two conditions: first, whether WTO members can join hands to resist protectionism and unilateralism; second, whether the WTO can keep pace with the changes in globalization and adjust its own rules. Many WTO members expect China to play an active role in the current WTO crisis.

"The WTO, as an international organization, is not a supranational government, and its dispute settlement mechanism is not enforceable, but its prestige comes from its impartiality. Because it follows a set of rules that are commonly accepted by all WTO members." Tu Xinquan said.

Countries around the world have expressed concern about the impact of unilateralism and trade protectionism on the WTO and have also called for reform of the WTO.

"Improving efficiency, maintaining fairness, promoting trade liberalization and facilitation, resolutely opposing unilateralism, and curbing trade protectionism are the directions of future WTO reforms." Tu Xinquan pointed out. China supports the improvement and development of the WTO, but it cannot tear down a new stove. An important prerequisite for reforming the WTO is to comply with existing rules.

At the same time, Tu Xinquan pointed out that from the perspective of the current global environment, the role of the WTO's trade dispute settlement mechanism in resolving trade conflicts between countries and governments cannot be replaced.