US, China Clash At WTO

U.S. and Chinese trade officials clashed at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, accusing each other of undermining the multilateral trading system. US Ambassador Dennis Shea accused China of seeking to "outright steal" technology in strategic industries and dump its products on US markets, saying "this is not acceptable." China's ambassador said that "reckless actions" by the Trump administration were the root of the crisis but that Beijing hoped that the two countries could "move in the same direction with mutual respect to contribute to the stability of world economic and trade environment." China further warned that unrestrained unilateralism “would bring destruction to the world economy.” The US, in a statement, countered Beijing’s points and blocked China’s request, calling it a threat to the system that China was using the WTO’s dispute settlement system as a shield for trade-distorting policies not covered by WTO rules. The U.S. has filed a formal WTO dispute against China’s technology licensing procedures but has argued that a range of other practices involving forced technology transfer, ownership restrictions and cybertheft are not covered by international trade rules and are fair game for justifying tariffs on more than $250 billion worth of imports. The U.S. also called China’s panel request hypocritical for calling the U.S. measures unilateral, noting Beijing unilaterally retaliated with its own tariffs on roughly $110 billion worth of US imports in a way that could be considered inconsistent with WTO rules.