WTO experts recognize China’s response to Trump’s tariffs as a violation

The World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration panel concluded that China violated its trade obligations in 2018 when it imposed retaliatory duties on US goods. The duties were introduced after the US imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China.

According to the decision, the WTO believes that China violated its “fundamental trade obligations” when it imposed tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of US products in response to tariffs imposed by Trump’s executive order. China’s tariffs, in their opinion, run counter to the basic principle of the WTO – the most favored nation treatment and other trade benefits. Additional duties of the PRC, experts noted, are incompatible with the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the predecessor of the WTO) of 1994, and therefore the WTO recommended that Beijing bring its policy in line with the obligations that the country assumed when joining the organization.