The new Biden administration executive order to restrict U.S. firms from investing in China in certain high-technology industries has led to a reckoning with the U.S. policy of “do as we say, not as we do.” Today China’s Ministry of Commerce released a 69-page document “2023 Report on WTO Compliance of the United States,” exposing U.S. violations and manipulation of WTO rules. Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, overcoming considerable opposition to the U.S. which had largely called the shots in that organization, Beijing has lived up to its obligations. The United States has not, the report says.
In its new report, China is speaking not only for itself, but also for all the countries that have been disadvantaged by U.S. actions. Responding to a reporter’s question regarding the report, a Commerce Ministry representative said: “Regrettably, as the world’s largest economy and the main creator and important beneficiary of the multilateral trading system, the United States has disregarded multilateral rules and members’ expectation in recent years, implemented unilateral trade bullying, manipulated double standards in industrial policies, and disrupted global industries.”
The report accuses the U.S. of being “A Double Standard Manipulator on Industrial Policies” and a “A Disturber of the Global Industrial and Supply Chains.” It reports: “The United States is provoking ‘decoupling’ and ‘broken supply chain,’ trying to force the industrial supply chain centered on the United States with huge subsidies, and promote near-shore outsourcing on the basis of so-called ‘values.’”
