WTO Policy Review Sees West, China Square Off On Trade

The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai has released a readout following her statement as part of the WTO trade policy review on China. Selected extracts below:

• "[Yesterday] We also heard Members identify a number of specific problems with China's trade regime. These problems included: Industrial policies that skew the playing field against the foreign competition and create systemic problems for global trade; Severe and persistent excess capacity, especially in the steel and aluminum sectors; [list continues]. That is a very long list of problems that have been identified with China's trade regime, and all of these problems are serious ones."
• "...almost all of these same problems were identified during China's Trade Policy Review three years ago, yet they persist."
• Finbar Bermingham at SCMP tweets sections of the Chinese response to the review: "Wang Shouwen, China's vice commerce minister, made a 12 point rebuke. Where other WTO members had asked China to relax Covid restrictions on foreign biz, travellers, Wang said "these are scientifically based and have not negatively impacted members' exports to China". Australia's claims that China has disrupted its exports are "groundless" said Wang, pointing to a 53% rise in aussie exports to China over H1 2021. Multiple Western members (US, Canada, Australia) accused China of economic coercion on Wednesday. Wang said China relies on the WTO dispute settlement system for these sorts of things, or the MPIA in the interim. On complaints about investment restrictions, cross border data flows and cyber security, these are not covered by WTO agreements, so it's "not reasonable" to expect China to apply rules. A number of members spoke again to ask China to stop claiming preferential status at the WTO when it is such a giant player. China will "reflect on their concerns", Wang said."