WTO begins investigation into Trump's China tariffs

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday launched an investigation into President Donald Trump's tariff over 250 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods on Monday, to see whether it goes against WTO rules, Bloomberg reported.

The WTO decided to set up an expert panel at the request of China, as a way to rule on the tariffs imposed by the U.S. "Section 301" investigation.

China responded by saying the tariffs on Chinese goods valued at hundreds of billions U.S dollars are damaging the country's economic and trade interests, as well as a rule-based multilateral trading system.

James Bacchus, a former Democratic congressman and former head of the WTO's appellate body, said in an email to Bloomberg that he believes the U.S. tariffs are inconsistent with WTO obligations, and this case is particularly important because it deals with an international legal issue.

A new round of trade talks is scheduled to begin on January 30 between China and the U.S., and Trump threatened to slap even higher tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods if a deal can't be reached by March 1.