China has filed a complaint against the U.S. with the World Trade Organization, their third, over tariffs.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced its legal case after the U.S. levied tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods on Sunday. It’s a 15% tax on about $112 billion of imports, Reuters reports.
China also responded by imposing taxes of 10% and 5% on certain American goods, as well as a new duty on U.S. crude oil. Another set of U.S. tariffs is set for December on about $160 billion of imports.
NOW THEY SUE
“The US taxation measures are seriously contrary to the consensus of the heads of state of the two countries in Osaka. China is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement. “In accordance with relevant WTO rules, China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and resolutely defend the multilateral trading system and the international trade order.”
China alleges that the latest U.S. tariffs are a violation of President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s agreement at the G20 summit in Osaka in June.
However, the U.S. has pointed to China’s theft of intellectual property. The WTO doesn’t address that in their rules.
“China has taken the unilateral decision to adopt aggressive industrial policy measures to steal or otherwise unfairly acquire the technology of its trading partners; the United States has adopted tariff measures to try to obtain the elimination of China’s unfair and distortive technology-transfer policies,” the U.S. wrote in a published defense Friday of the first of the three legal cases.
The statement added that China chose not to address concerns directly but to retaliate by imposing its own tariffs “in an effort to maintain its unfair policies indefinitely.”
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The U.S. will have 60 days to respond to the latest case brought to the WTO, the intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade.
FORBES SAYS IT’S COSTING US
Forbes reports the increased prices due to tariffs are being passed on to consumers at a cost of $800 a year per household:
“Retailers have been left with little choice but to pass the growing cost of Chinese-imported goods to consumers. University of California research cited by the BBC estimates that by the time all new tariffs are imposed by December, it could cost U.S. households an extra $800 a year.”
Is it a small price to pay? Go to war with this dangerous communist country now over tariffs or later with military action when these imperialists are too powerful to stop. They took over a critical trade route in the South China Seas over the past decade, and they have shown a desire to take over land that isn’t theirs.
THE PRESIDENT DOESN’T SEEM BOTHERED
The President is saying something different.
The President spoke to the press this morning and said “China is moving along” and “we’re doing very well.” He said China is paying for the tariffs. The President said he is giving some of the money to the farmers. The “meeting is still on for September.”
“We can’t allow China to rip us off anymore…we can’t do that,” he told the reporters.
His tweets echo the same belief.
We are doing very well in our negotiations with China. While I am sure they would love to be dealing with a new administration so they could continue their practice of “ripoff USA”($600 B/year),16 months PLUS is a long time to be hemorrhaging jobs and companies on a long-shot….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2019
