China Marks 20 Years in the World Trade Organization. We Should Celebrate It.

This report was made by the Trump administration; it is unclear whether the Biden administration feels the same way.But this view is wrong. Overall, China ’s integration into the rules‐​based multilateral trading system has generated significantly more stability, predictability, and transparency in the economic relations of the rest of the world with China than existed before China’s accession. The WTO has played an important role in opening C hina’s market to foreign goods and services. This opening has produced major economic gains for China and for all its trading partners – not least the United States. Even so, critics of Chinese trade practices are unquestionably right in insisting that much more must be done to discipline many o f China’s trade practices and ensure full compliance by China with its obligations under the WTO treaty.China ’s Long& Difficult AccessionChina ’s journey to WTO membership was not an easy one, and it occurred in fits and starts. China was a member of the WTO ’s predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, but it withdrew from the GATT in 1950 because the Communist Party of China would not honor tariff commitments made by the ousted nationalist government. It was not until 1986 that China reapplied for membership in the GATT. Negotiations o n Chinese accession continued for fifteen years, until finally, at the Doha Ministerial Conference in November 2001, an accession protocol was adopted by WTO memb...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs