WTO finds fault with China’s agricultural trade restrictions

Bloomberg

China didn’t follow proper procedures when it imposed trade restrictions on agricultural imports, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a ruling that bolsters President Donald Trump’s dispute against Beijing.
China used a flawed and opaque approach when it administered tariff-rate quotas for rice, wheat, and corn, the Geneva-based arbiter of global trade disputes said on its website. It’s tariff-rate quota “administration contains legal flaws from the beginning through to the completion of the process,” the text of the ruling said.
The decision could increase US farmers’ access to China at a time when they are struggling to compete amid the fallout from Trump’s trade war. The US Department of Agriculture previously said that Beijing’s actions prevented an additional $3.5 billion worth of crops being imported into China.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said it “regrets” the ruling in a statement, and that it’ll review the report and continue to manage agricultural product tariff-rate quotas based on WTO rules.
The ruling “will help American farmers compete on a more level playing field,” the Office of the US Trade Representative said.
“The administration will continue to press China to promptly come into compliance with its WTO obligations.”
Either the US or China may appeal the case at any point in the next 60 days. If the ruling is upheld, China must revise its quota programmes or face the prospect of trade retaliation from Washington. As part of China’s WTO accession agreement, Beijing pledged to set specific quota levels for wheat, corn and rice by applying a lower tariff rate to imports up to a certain quantity and then applying higher duties to imports that exceed the threshold.