China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) for the first time issued a report on the U.S.' fulfillment of its WTO obligations, slamming Washington for “destroying the multilateral trade mechanism, exercising unilateralist bullying, manipulating double standards in industrial policy, and disrupting global industrial and supply chains.” As the U.S. has been escalating economic coercion against China step by step, it sends a stern warning to the U.S. – ahead of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's planned visit to China in August – urging Washington to return to the right track of the WTO-based global system as a first step to repair bilateral relations. The report called on the U.S., as the world's largest economy as well as main founder and main beneficiary of the multilateral trading system, to comply with the rules and honor its commitments, to ensure the multilateral trading system plays a bigger role in global governance.
The report expressed China's concerns on several fronts. The U.S. is the member with the largest number of dispute settlements initiated by other WTO members. It not only selectively implements WTO rulings, but also insists on obstructing the selection of members of the Appellate Body and causing it to become “paralyzed,” which makes it “a destroyer of the multilateral trade system,” the report said. It also pointed out that the U.S. has long used “national security,” “human rights” and “forced technology transfer” as excuses to take unilateral measures against other WTO members, impose tariffs arbitrarily, and abuse trade remedies. By levying its advantages in the economic and trade field, it coerces other members to obey its foreign policy and unreasonable demands, all of which amount to it being a “perpetrator of unilateralist bullying.” According to the report, the U.S. has implemented exclusive and discriminatory subsidy policies on a large scale, whereas it uses export controls and other means to restrict the industrial development of other members, which makes it “a manipulator of double standards in industrial policies.”
The report also touches on the U.S.-instigated decoupling push. With unilateral tariff measures and hefty subsidies, it attempts to force industrial chains to relocate and establish U.S.-centric industrial chains. It also promotes near-shore outsourcing and so-called “friend-shoring” based on claimed shared values, and all those moves make it a “disruptor of global supply chains.”
Chinese observers said the evaluation is very “to the point” and is based on solid evidence. They cited a lengthy list of Washington's bullying affronts, ranging from the recent curbs on Chinese high-tech investment, pressuring its allies to join its semiconductor ban against China, the inflation act that siphons its partners' competitive tech industries, to the prolonged trade war the U.S. has been waging against China starting five years ago, the Global Times reports.
