U.S. continues to run counter to WTO rules, weaponize economic issues: report

In the past year, the United States has continued to run counter to the rules and obligations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), generalize national security, and politicize and weaponize economic and trade issues under the guise of so-called de-risking, according to a report on the WTO compliance of the United States released by China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

The report, based on the first report released by the ministry in August 2023, continued to express its concerns over U.S. policy measures that undermine the multilateral trading rules, impose unilateral sanctions, manipulate double standards in industrial policies, and disturb global industrial and supply chains.

The U.S. has continuously escalated unilateral sanctions, frequently implemented discriminatory measures and continued to raise tariff barriers, which has posed severe challenges to the multilateral trading system and seriously undermined the common interests of WTO members, said the report.

Noting that the WTO has ruled that the U.S. Section 301 tariffs violate WTO rules, the U.S. still ignores the authority of the WTO and puts its domestic laws above WTO rules, it said, adding that instead of canceling the relevant illegal measures, the U.S. still increases Section 301 tariffs on products imported from China and launches a new investigation, exposing its nature as a "destroyer of the multilateral trading system."

The U.S., ignoring the principles of market economy and fair competition, unreasonably suppresses companies of other countries under the guise of "national security" and imposes unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction" on normal economic and trade exchanges of other countries, it said, adding that such acts are a typical "perpetrator of unilateralist bullying."

Hyping up "China's overcapacity" rhetoric, the U.S., however, has implemented a number of exclusive and discriminatory subsidy and support policies and used foreign investment security reviews, foreign investment restrictions, export control lists and other means to suppress the development of industries of other countries, it said, calling the U.S. a practitioner of double standards in industrial policy.

The report also urged the U.S. to immediately correct its wrongdoing, earnestly abide by WTO rules and honor its commitments, and return to the open, fair, transparent, inclusive, non-discriminatory rules-based multilateral trading system.