WTO rules agaist US in countervailing measures on China products

The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled on Monday in its panel report that the United States had acted inconsistently with WTO rules in regard of its countervailing measures against certain products from China.

As for the dispute brought by China to the world trade watchdog in May 2012, the panel report, ruled that the findings of United States Department of Commerce (USDOC) on the public body status of certain Chinese State-owned enterprises and land specificity of alleged subsidies and as well as its initiation of countervailing investigations on export restraints violated WTO rules.

Meanwhile, the panel did not find the US practice in respect of the use of adverse facts available, the calculation of subsidy benefit and the determination of subsidy specificity to be inconsistent with the WTO rules.

China requested consultations in May 2012 with the United States over the latter's countervailing measures on certain Chinese products which involved 22 categories, including steel products, solar cells and paper products.

In August 2012, China requested the establishment of a panel to probe into the case, which was established by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) a month later.

China's Ministry of Commerce said in a subsequent statement that China welcomed that the panel upheld a number of its claims, and ruled certain countervailing measures imposed by US inconsistent with WTO rules, but regretted that the experts partially rejected China's other claims against US practices.

The ministry noted that this dispute concerned a series of categories of products with the annual export value amounting to approximately $7.2 billion, representing a significant trade interest on the Chinese side.

China urged the United States to respect the WTO rulings and correct its wrongdoings of abusively using trade remedy measures, and to ensure an environment of fair competition for the Chinese enterprises.

The ministry added that China is now in the process of assessing the panel report and will carry on its follow-up work pursuant to the WTO dispute settlement proceeding.