WTO rules Trump tariffs on Chinese goods illegal
The World Trade Organization (WTO) said Tuesday that President Trump’s tariffs on more than $400 billion in Chinese goods violate international trade regulations.
In a Tuesday report, a panel of three WTO adjudicators ruled that the U.S. was unable to prove its tariffs on Chinese products were necessary to level the global trade playing field. The ruling does not obligate the U.S. to scrap the tariffs, but finds that the Trump administration “has not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures are provisionally justified.”
Starting in 2018, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports from China in response to decades of alleged unfair trade practices committed by the Chinese government. The tariffs were issued under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the White House to fight foreign trade policy it deems “unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts United States commerce.”
A March 2018 report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative — the administration’s top trade negotiator —justified tariffs on Chinese goods to counter the theft and forced transfer of intellectual property and valuable technology from U.S. firms by Chinese companies.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/516501-wto-rules-trump-tariffs-on-chinese-goods-illegal
= new reply since forum marked as read
