China’s Commerce Ministry said last month that it is deeply concerned about protectionism in the US steel sector [Xinhua]China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday that the country has requested the establishment of a WTO panel to settle trade disputes with the United States as soon as possible.
On May 13, 2016, China proposed consultations with the United States over the latter’s alleged non-compliance with the recommendations and rulings of WTO dispute settlement body over countervailing duties on certain products from China.
In the original dispute, the United States was found to have acted inconsistently with several obligations in the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement relating to countervailing duty determinations.
“Unfortunately, a round of consultation with the US via telephone on May 27 failed to resolve China’s concerns,” the MOC said in a statement.
The ministry on Friday requested the establishment of a WTO panel by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). According to WTO rules and agreement between China and the United States, the panel should be set up during the DSB meeting on July 21.
“China is opposed to the abuse of trade remedy measures and will firmly exercise its rights as a WTO member and protect the legitimate interests of the domestic industry,” the statement said.
China hopes that the dispute can be properly settled as soon as possible under the WTO mechanism, the ministry added.
The U.S. Commerce Department had already slapped duties of up to 450 per cent on the steel products from China and duties ranging from 3 per cent to 92 per cent on corrosion-resistant steel from Italy, India, South Korea and Taiwan.
China’s Commerce Ministry said last month that it is deeply concerned about protectionism in the US steel sector. It argues that the difficulties facing the global steel sector have resulted from falling demand, and that trade protectionism from the US will intensify conflicts and disputes.
China supported India last month at the WTO in its stance against the US, the EU and Canada for continuing to impose regulatory barriers on short-term service providers, especially software professionals.
TBP and Agencies
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