32 WTO members sent US over 2000 questions over unfair trade policy

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
17 Dec 2022 19:59

The Inflation Reduction Act which was passed earlier this year by US President Joe Biden has been a major source of concern for Washington's allies across Atlantic and the pacific.

China Says 32 WTO Nations Questioned Discriminatory US Trade Policy

China's Commerce Ministry said on Saturday that thirty-two member-states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) sent the US over 2000 inquiries over the week regarding its discriminatory trade policy.

Among the inquirers include some key allies of the US, namely Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the EU.

"Thirty-two WTO member states sent more than 2,000 written questions to the US concerning the compliance of the recently adopted Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and related measures, as well as the US state procurement policy and national security with WTO rules," the ministry said in a statement.

US President Joe Biden's inflation reduction act provides tax subsidies to US consumers who purchase electric cars assembled in the US.

This has been a major source of concern for Washington's allies across the Atlantic and the pacific.

The US is expected to respond in writing to all inquiries.

On Tuesday, one of China’s most prominent trade groups made the Chinese commerce ministry launch an official trade dispute at the WTO against the US over its chip export control measures.

"China takes legal action within the WTO framework as a necessary way to address our concerns and uphold our legitimate interests,” reported a statement from the Ministry of Commerce of China on Tuesday. The entity also emphasized that US restrictions "threaten the stability of global industrial supply chains", in the message conveyed by his diplomatic mission in Geneva.

China's ambassador to the WTO Li Chenggang told a regular US trade policy review at the WTO office in Geneva that "the US puts 'America First' by prevailing its domestic laws over international rules and (the) laws of others, disregarding WTO rules and concerns of other members," he told a closed-door US trade policy review in Geneva on Wednesday.