U.S. asks WTO for dispute settlement panel on a Chinese export program

10/04/2015 12:00 - 487 Views

The United States has asked the World Trade Organization to establish a dispute settlement panel concerning a Chinese export subsidy program, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said on Friday.

China's "Demonstration Bases-Common Service Platform" export subsidy program "appears to grant unfair, prohibited export subsidies to a large range of Chinese manufacturers and producers, from sectors like textiles to agriculture to chemicals to advanced materials and metals," the USTR said.

It said the WTO will establish this panel at the next meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on April 22.

The United States and China held meetings on the export subsidies program on March 13 and again last week, but the USTR said those consultations failed to resolve its concerns and it decided to move forward with the WTO request.

The USTR said it has also asked that a U.S. panel request filed with the WTO on March 18 on Indonesia's import licensing restrictions be considered at the same April 22 meeting.

The United States is challenging "a multitude of burdensome import licensing restrictions imposed by Indonesia on horticulture, animals and animal products," the USTR said.

"These unfair restrictions are harming American farmers and ranchers working to sell their world-class agricultural products to the 4th most populous country in the world," it said.

Source: Reuters