US Pushes China to Adopt Trade Reform, Tensions Rise
The United States accused China of unfair trade practices today during the World Trade Organization (WTO) review, saying the country's industrial policies "skew the playing field" against imported goods and services.
"We also cannot ignore reports of China's use of forced labor in several sectors," U.S. charge d'affaires David Bisbee told the WTO. The Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory report released in July by the U.S. Commerce Department and five other agencies listed several industries using forced labor in the region—some of which include agriculture, construction, textiles and renewable energy.
The U.S. and other countries, like Japan and Australia, are pushing China to adopt reforms that could help improve equity and transparency in global trade.
"Even when China changed the specific practices that we had challenged, China often did not change the underlying policies, and meaningful reforms by China remained elusive," Bisbee told the WTO.
