BEIJING
\nBeijing on Thursday dismissed the United States\u2019 assessment of China\u2019s World Trade Organisation membership, saying its criticism has no basis in international economic and trade rules. The Chinese commerce ministry\u2019s retort came a day after the Office of the US Trade Representative accused China of failing to meet its commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), saying that Beijing is repeatedly exploring new ways to implement aggressive trade practices.
\nAccording to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, China refuses to live up to its commitments under the phase-one trade deal, which, according to her, would \u201cprovide a solid foundation for future bilateral engagement.\u201d The official added that China\u2019s trade policies are causing \u201cserious harm\u201d to workers and firms across the globe. Among other things, the report mentions Beijing\u2019s subsidies for industries, restrictions on foreign companies\u2019 abilities to do business in the country, and a lack of protection for intellectual property rights. \u201cChina\u2019s embrace of a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade has increased rather than decreased over time, and the mercantilism that it generates has harmed and disadvantaged US companies and workers, often severely,\u201d the review states.
\nChinese Commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng noted on Thursday that the US labelled China as non-market-oriented, but added that \u201cthese remarks have no basis according to international economic and trade rules, and are completely inconsistent with the facts\u201d.
\nHe also urged the US to ensure its trade tools \u201ccomply with WTO rules instead of waging unilateralism, protectionism, and bullying in the name of seeking a new strategy\u201d. Gao said China hopes the US would \u201cadopt rational and pragmatic economic and trade policies toward China\u201d.
\nTrade tensions between the world\u2019s two biggest economies started under former US President Donald Trump, when more than half of Chinese goods imported by the US became subject to higher tariffs.
\nDespite the drastic measures, US-China trade reportedly soared to $657.4 billion in 2021 after struggling through the pandemic. That\u2019s less than $1.5 billion short of the record set back in 2018.
\nTo reduce the strain, Washington and Beijing reached a so-called phase-one trade agreement in January 2020. Under the terms of the deal, China agreed to boost purchases of US products. However, the US has accused China of buying only 57% of American goods it had committed to purchase. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING Beijing on Thursday dismissed the United States\u2019 assessment of China\u2019s World Trade Organisation membership, saying its criticism has no basis in international economic and trade rules. The Chinese commerce ministry\u2019s retort came a day after the Office of the US Trade Representative accused China of failing to meet its commitments to the World Trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n