WTO segir að Kína geti lagt tolla upp á 645 milljónir á innflutning í Bandaríkjunum

The World Trade Organization's ruling that authorizes China to impose 645 million of compensatory tariffs against the United States is a victory for multilateralism and free trade, and highlights the failure of the US to abide by WTO rules that it's obliged to follow, experts and business leaders said on Thursday.

Their comments came after the trade body decided on Wednesday to allow China to impose the tariffs. This followed China's challenge at the Geneva-based organization in 2012 against countervailing duty investigations by the US that led to the imposition of anti-subsidy duties from 2008 to 2012 on 22 Chinese products ranging from solar panels to steel wire.

China also challenged the US claim that majority government ownership is sufficient to treat an enterprise as a "public body".

"The ruling was of great significance to rebut the illicit countervailing practices of the US, protect the legitimate trade interests of Chinese enterprises and safeguard the multilateral trading system," the Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement.

Bandaríkin verða að hætta að leita afsökunar og grípa strax til aðgerða til að leiðrétta misgjörðir sínar í rannsóknum á viðskiptaúrræðum gegn Kína, segir í yfirlýsingunni.

Analysts said the ruling has again sent a clear message that the US violated WTO trade rules. The decision also boosts global confidence in the multilateral trading system's authority, they added.

"The ruling is important to correct wrong practices in global trade by some countries. It is expected to serve as a measure to punish unilateral and hegemonistic behavior," said Huo Jianguo, vice-chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies.

Xia Aimin, CEO of Tianjin Shangdian Qinding Energy Technology Co, who previously worked for a company that went bankrupt after the imposition of US anti-subsidy tariffs, said the ruling was an example of "belated, but welcome justice".

Kínverskar sólarplötuvörur halda áfram að vera mjög vinsælar á alþjóðlegum mörkuðum þökk sé háu gæðastigi og samkeppnishæfu verði, sagði hann. Vegna reynslu sinnar í nýlegum viðskiptadeilum eru kínversk fyrirtæki nú betur í stakk búin til að stunda viðskipti á alþjóðlegum mörkuðum, bætti Xia við.

Lin Shen, fræðimaður við Institute of World Economics and Politics við Kínversku félagsvísindaakademíuna, sagði að besta leiðin til að stunda frjáls viðskipti, eins og Bandaríkin halda því alltaf fram að þeir vilji, sé að virða reglur WTO.

It is groundless for some countries to negate China's status as being a developing country and make wrongful allegations about China's economic model, including criticisms of Chinese State-owned enterprises' ways of doing business, which abide by market rules, he added.

Í nóvember 2019 veitti Alþjóðaviðskiptastofnunin Kína rétt til að leggja hefndartolla upp á 3,58 milljarða á bandarískar vörur eftir að hafa fundið sök á einhverjum bandarískum undirboðsaðgerðum gegn Kína.

Árið 2018 og 2019 lögðu Bandaríkin einnig viðbótartolla á kínverskan innflutning, en nefnd WTO úrskurðaði árið 2020 að Bandaríkin hefðu brotið gegn WTO skuldbindingum sínum.