USTR Slams China’s Trade Performance in New Report

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its 2022 Report to Congress on China’s WTO Compliance, slamming China for causing “serious harm to workers and businesses in the United States and around the world.”

The report that USTR published on Friday, Feb. 24, details the Biden Administration’s assessment of China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“More than 20 years after it acceded to the World Trade Organization, China still embraces a state-led economic and trade approach that runs counter to the open, market-oriented principles endorsed by all members of the organization,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai.

“China’s approach makes it an outlier and continues to cause serious harm to workers and businesses in the United States and around the world.  This report details the scale of China’s non-market policies and practices and is a reminder that the international trading system must continue to work together to defend our shared interests against these harmful actions,”she added.

Politico reported, the “new strategies” for dealing with current challenges that China poses for the U.S. are almost identical to the 2021 version of the report. Except the section now puts an emphasis on the U.S. to “invest in, and build policies supportive of, the industries of today and tomorrow.”

The section refers to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act that have recently been adopted.  

According to Politico, the report didn’t give an update on USTR’s ongoing statutory review of the tariffs that Trump imposed on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.

The report comes days before the annual release of the President’s Trade Agenda in the middle of this week.