Disciplining China at the WTO

The scope of the Trump administration ’s Section 232 “national security” tariffs is filled with uncertainty –exemptions are being negotiated this week – but we are already on to the next set of aggressive trade moves:reports suggest that the administration will announce tariffs on imports of Chinese products  today, as punishment for China’s alleged unfair trade practices. This would be a unilateral response to China’s practices, with the U.S. Trade Representative acting as the judge, jury, and executioner. This approach may not be all that effective in getting China to change, and risks retaliati on by China.But there is another way: Bring complaints against China to the WTO, and get rulings from a neutral arbiter on these practices. Unfortunately, the Trump administration does not seem to have much confidence in the ability of WTO dispute settlement to discipline China. Leading administration officials havereferred to the WTO ’s “abject failure to address emerging problems caused by unfair practices from countries like China” and its“inability to resolve disputes, limit subsidies or draw China into the market status that was envisioned when China joined the WTO”; and havedeclared that the WTO “is not equipped to deal with [the China] problem.”Is this skepticism justified? We looked at all of the WTO complaints against China, and we see something quite different. In almost all complaints brought against China, whether litigated fully or resolv...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs