WTO upholds duties on China
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A WTO panel of arbitrators on Monday rejected all of China's arguments in a 128-page ruling, saying "the US did not fail to comply with its obligations" in imposing punitive duties on imports of Chinese tires over three years, AFP reported.
The tire dispute ignited the first trade spat of Obama's presidency with China, with warnings that a rise in Chinese-made tires had cost more than 5,000 US jobs.
Beijing reacted strongly against the move, obliging the WTO to take up the case in January.
China had urged the US to withdraw the duties, amounting to 35 percent in the first year, which it said breached global trade rules. The WTO rejected the request.
China is deeply concerned about the effect the tariff has had on the Chinese tire industry, according to an unnamed official at the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Xinhua reported.
After careful study of the report, China will file a complaint to safeguard the legitimate rights of the nation's tire makers and exporters, the official added.
Zhu Lanye, a professor at the East China University of Political Science and Law, and a WTO expert, told the Global Times that nearly 70 percent of WTO cases end up being appealed.
"But very few of them win," she added, "especially under the circumstances that Chinese exports keep growing this year, even beyond expectations."
Meanwhile, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan is in Washington this week, leading a delegation of nearly 100 officials for the 21st meeting of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), according to Xinhua.
Wang is co-chairing the two-day meeting with US Commerce Secretary Gary Faye Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
After the "major victory for the US and particularly for American workers and businesses," as Kirk was quoted Monday by AFP as saying, sen-ators continued pressing China on currency manipulation, piracy and counterfeiting.
However, "China hopes the meeting will expand mutual cooperation and maintain the healthy and stable development of bilateral economic and trade relations between China and the US," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday, according to Xinhua. The JCCT was established in 1983 as a platform for the two countries to promote trade relations.
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