U.S. accuses China of ‘serious harm’ to workers through trade

By Jonathan Josephs, Business reporter, BBC News

The US has accused China of causing “serious harm” to workers and firms around the world with its trade policies. The US Trade Representative accused Beijing of repeatedly failing to live up to trade commitments.

It published its annual review of China’s compliance with the deal that gave it membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday. China said it is a firm supporter of and important contributor to the WTO.

The US report is the first since President Biden’s appointee Katherine Tai took up office as the top US trade negotiator, and it lays out US concerns about China’s trade policies.

Many of the them are long-standing in Washington and are shared by both Democrats and Republicans.

They include Beijing’s subsidies for industries it deems important, restrictions on foreign companies’ abilities to do business in China and lack of protection for intellectual property rights.

China says it is “building a socialist market economy” that will allow market forces to determine resource allocation and allow the government to “play a better role”.

The report says: “China’s embrace of a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade has increased rather than decreased over time, and the mercantilism that it generates has harmed and disadvantaged US companies and workers, often severely.”

It also points out that the US has won all 27 cases it has brought against China at the WTO, but “meaningful reforms by China remain elusive”.

The trade war which started under former President Donald Trump means that more than half of what the world’s two biggest economies sell each other is subject to tariffs, or import taxes.

Despite this, trade between the two countries soared to $657.4bn (£484bn) last year after struggling through the pandemic. That’s less than $1.5bn short of the record set in 2018.