Mubasher TV
Contact Us Advertising   العربية

WTO suspends suit on China’s ‘market economy’ status

WTO suspends suit on China’s ‘market economy’ status

Mubasher: The World Trade Organization (WTO) suspended litigation in a dispute over China’s claim to be a market economy, Reuters reported.

Beijing chose to halt the dispute at the eleventh hour, as so much of the ruling went against China, one trade official told Reuters.

“They lost so much that they didn’t even want the world to see the panel’s reasoning,” the official was quoted by the news agency.

Without the WTO ruling, Beijing would have to accept continued “anti-dumping” tariffs on its goods in the European Union (EU) and the US, dismissing China’s claim that they are fairly priced.

“They were going to win something, but it was overshadowed by the huge defeat that they had on the main claim,” the official said.

In December 2016, Beijing claimed before the WTO that the EU and the US broke a pledge to take Chinese prices at face value and treat China as a “market economy.”

However, Brussels and Washington said that Chinese goods were still heavily underprices because of subsidies and state-back oversupply, unfairly giving Chinese exporters an edge over others.

China asked to suspend the case earlier in May, while proceeding with the suit against the EU.

After the EU requested the WTO to take certain considerations into account, China reiterated its request to suspend legal proceedings, and later on the panel halted the case on Friday.