Thread by @fbermingham

China's trade policy review at the WTO is ongoing today and there was a bit of pushback in the morning session.

Short summary to follow, via a Geneva trade official...

Review is led by Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and 20 officials from 7 gov agencies, fielding 1,600 Qs from 40 WTO members, mostly answered in writing before today

But Australia, Japan & US raised major issues with China's trade policy. EU, UK, Taiwan & Korea to come this avo

Australia.

Says China has disrupted trade covering a wide range of products, naming "arbitrary border testing & inspection, unwarranted delays in listing & readiness to export establishments, issuing import licenses, unjustified anti-dumping & countervailing duties"

Aus says there are "credible reports" of Beijing telling importers not to buy Aus goods. Pointed to Chinese MOFA saying no country will "reap benefits from doing biz with China while groundlessly accusing and smearing China & undermining China's core interests based on ideology"

"WTO rules do not permit a member, however large, to impose conditions such as these on trade with another member," Australian delegation said in its intervention.

Japan was critical of China's " lack of transparency when notifying trade-related measures".

Said subsidies, "trade-distorting measures", SOEs, lack of clarity in laws "raise a fundamental challenge to free and fair competition". Criticised China's "limited disclosure of info"

Japan criticised China for "overcapacity in the steel sector."

"Unfortunately, we have witnessed a move in opposite direction including the increase in China's production capacity since 2019," Japanese delegation said, per Geneva source.

The US... well, quite a lengthy intervention it seems.

It was "very critical" of China's trade policy and said it had not addressed issues raised in 2018, during its last trade policy review.

The US said hopes that China's WTO accession would "would permanently dismantle existing Chinese policies and practices that were incompatible with an international trading system" have not been realised.

Added that "it appears that China has no inclination to change."

The US accuses China of using the "imprimatur of WTO membership to become the WTO largest trader" but doubling down on state-led trade policy "to the detriment of workers and businesses in the US"

US delegation rhymed off a laundry list of issues with China's WTO membership. Industrial subsidies, SOE preferential treatment, IP theft, cyber theft, market access limitations, etc.

US lashed out at China's use of "economic coercion" to "pressure offending country to correct mistakes" when WTO members criticise China.

"A number of WTO members in this room have experienced China's economic coercion," they added.

Among those quite supportive of China were - of course - Hong Kong, as well as Switzerland, which praised its opening up and "economic resilience"

China cited RCEP and applying to CPTPP as evidence of "advancing regional economic integration & "liberalising trade & investment"

Will update with further info on afternoon session...

A bit more on China's TPR today following the afternoon session, in which the pile-on continued. Strong criticism from Canada, the UK, EU and others.

Canada seems interesting because of the contrast with China's last review in 2018, at which it "thanked China for its engagement the hard work of its officials" and "wished the delegation from Beijing a safe journey home."

3 years later, following bans on canola & beef, plus Meng Wanzhou & Michaels' detentions, things have changed.

Canada referred to "pattern regarding China's growing willingness to deploy economic coercive measures to block or hinder trade in response to political disagreements"

In 2018, the EU was "heartened to read how China considers itself as a firm defender of WTO values", and "acknowledged the possible benefits that the Belt and Road Initiative may bring"

Today, the EU is "concerned about the increasing politicisation of China’s business environment. Economic pressure on companies’ operations that seem motivated by political considerations runs against the spirit of the WTO."

Full EU statement here: eeas.europa.eu/delegations/wo…

EU continued: "Another concern is China’s expansive use of an excessively broad concept of national security, negatively affecting foreign companies."

"It has become increasingly clear that such distortions cannot be sufficiently addressed by current WTO rules."

Similarly, if you look at Australia's statement at China's 2018 trade policy review, it shows how far the relationship has declined.

Lots of "encourages", "appreciates" and "welcomes"...

China will have a chance to respond to all this criticism on Friday, during the second day of the review...

Final update on this: the only reference, as far as I know, to forced labour today came from the UK.

"The UK underscored it is unacceptable wherever and whenever it occurs".

Called on China to "ratify and effectively implement the ILO forced labor convention"

As per @snlester, US also called out forced labour

https://twitter.com/snlester/status/1450918091454562305?t=Wa2ScjCCaklWoffHgCyYrQ&s=19