Timeframe Set For Implementing WTO Ruling on Chinese Ag Subsidies

The World Trade Organization (WTO) said the U.S. and China have agreed to a March 31, 2020 deadline for Beijing to bring its ag subsidies for wheat and rice into compliance with a ruling by WTO's dispute settlement body (DSB).

The decision was adopted in late April. A dispute panel found China provides "market price support" in excess of its WTO commitments for domestic production of the two ag commodities. The case was initiated in December 2016 when the U.S. requested a panel be established to adjudicate the issue. It was one of two major ag-related disputes with China that the U.S. has recently won — the second centered around China's administration of import tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for corn, wheat and rice.

China declined to appeal either ruling, and is currently in talks with the U.S. to determine a compliance timeframe for the TRQ decision.