- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Washington Vows to Lead WTO Reforms, Stop Beijing's Abuses - US Envoy

© AP Photo / Fabrice CoffriniThe shadow of a sculpture is reflected on the World Trade Organisation, WTO sign near the entrance of the headquarters, in Geneva (File)
The shadow of a sculpture is reflected on the World Trade Organisation, WTO sign near the entrance of the headquarters, in Geneva (File) - Sputnik International
Subscribe
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US is pledging to lead an international effort to reform the World Trade Organization by challenging China’s use of the WTO to foster a state-led mercantilist policies that belie the organization’s goal of promoting an open global trading system, US Envoy Dennis Shea said Monday.

"The United States is committed to working with like-minded members to address our concerns with the functioning of the WTO," Shea told a Trade Policy Review session at WTO headquarters in Geneva on Monday. "The United States will be at the forefront of these efforts."

Kovrig, an employee with the International Crisis Group and former Canadian diplomat appears in this photo from Brussels - Sputnik International
Journalist: It’s Not Fair to Canadians to Be Part of US-China Trade War
Shea said China pursues an array of non-market industrial policies and other unfair competitive practices aimed at promoting its domestic industries while simultaneously restricting imports of goods and services of foreign companies.

From forced technology transfer to the creation and maintenance of severe excess industrial capacity to a heavily skewed playing field in China, the results of China’s approach are causing serious harm to the United States and many other WTO members and their companies and workers, Shea explained.

READ MORE: US, China Trade War Fallout: Argentine Cherries to Flood Beijing Markets

The United States also takes issue with a WTO dispute settlement procedure, which Washington contends has been abused to alter the organization’s internal rules in ways that bear little resemblance to the original WTO charter, according to Shea.

The Trump administration has abandoned the WTO as a primary means to settle trade disputes and instead turned to US trade laws that penalize foreign companies — especially Chinese companies — that dump products in the United States at unfairly low prices and also benefit from government subsidies that are illegal under WTO rules.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала