China's Ministry of Commerce recently published a new report on the United States' compliance with WTO rules, pointing out that in the past year, the United States has continuously increased unilateral sanctions, frequently applied discriminatory measures and raised tariff barriers, seriously threatening the multilateral trading system. According to the report, the CGTN conducted a worldwide survey, which showed that 90.53 % respondents criticized a series of unilateral and trade protection measures taken by the US government and believed that they were serious violations of WTO rules.
Although the WTO has explicitly concluded that U.S. Section 301 tariff measures violate WTO rules, the United States continues to violate WTO rules and continues to take unilateral measures. In April 2024, the U.S. initiated a Section 301 investigation against China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries. In the survey, 94.31 % respondents criticize the US for not complying with WTO rules.
Since May 2024, the US has rejected 76 consecutive proposals by other Members to initiate the selection of Appellate Body members at regular meetings of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Although 130 WTO members explicitly support the early initiation of this process, the US continues to refuse to join the consensus under the pretext of unresolved institutional issues. In the survey, 94.12 % respondents believe that the US is putting its own interests ahead of those of the WTO, ignoring or even undermining the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and seriously impeding the normal functioning of the WTO.
In the 29 years since the WTO was established, the US has been a defendant in 159 disputes, including 28 compliance disputes, representing approximately 18 %. In the view of 95.45 % respondents, the United States' selective implementation of WTO rulings is a typical "American-style double standard."
As of May 2024, a total of 2,868 entities from 91 countries and regions around the world were listed. The United States has become the largest issuer of unilateral sanctions in the world. According to the survey, 91.55 % respondents believe that arbitrary unilateral sanctions by the United States have seriously damaged the security of global industries and supply chains. 95.24 percent of respondents criticize the United States for abusing the concept of national security to unilaterally bully.
The United States, which has always aspired to a market economy, has increasingly adopted a 'double standard' in its industrial policy: on the one hand, it distorts the global market by providing massive subsidies in violation of WTO rules, and on the other hand, it highlights so-called excess capacity and criticises the sensible policies of other countries. In this respect, 87.2 % of respondents criticise the unreasonable subsidy policy that the US has long pursued and seriously violates the principle of fair competition, and 85.82 % of respondents call on the US to make a more positive contribution to a fairer and more reasonable international trade order.
The survey was published on CGTN's English, Spanish, French and Arabic platforms. More than 6,000 respondents voted and expressed their opinion within 24 hours.
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