Associated Press | By Stephanie Hoo | Nov. 20, 2003
BEIJING - China said Thursday it plans to raise import duties on some American products if Washington doesn't abide by a World Trade Organization ruling that U.S. tariffs on steel are illegal.
Late Thursday, Vice Commerce Minister Ma Xiuhong summoned the U.S. ambassador to talk about trade, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
China had also summoned the U.S. ambassador a day earlier to say it was "shocked at and expresses dissatisfaction with" new U.S. quotas on Chinese textiles. Beijing insists the textile trade restrictions also violate WTO rules.
Ma called on the United States to lift its steel tariffs, imposed in March 2002 to protect U.S. steel manufacturers but declared unlawful by the WTO earlier this month.
"If the United States did not observe the WTO ruling, China would raise the tariffs of some U.S. products and plans to do so were under discussion," the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Ma.
The agency's Web site, Xinhuanet, reported the same thing with slightly stronger language, saying China "is going to raise tariffs on some U.S. imports, and plans are being studied."
Neither report said which American imports would be affected.
Meanwhile, China has delayed the departure of an official trade delegation bound for the United States for technical reasons, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. He didn't elaborate.
A trade delegation last week signed deals to purchase U.S. automobiles, jet engines and commercial aircraft worth more than $6 billion.
China had been hoping to use the shopping expeditions by its Commerce Ministry to counter growing U.S. discontent about the size of the trade imbalance between the nations.
The United States estimates that its trade deficit with China will expand to more than $120 billion this year. Tensions between the nations have grown in recent months as Washington pushes Beijing to loosen controls on its currency and American businesses criticize the growing imbalance.
On Monday, the U.S. Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements voted to invoke safeguard measures on articles from China, including knitted fabrics and bras. China decried that and said it "reserved the right to lodge lawsuits" through the WTO.
On Wednesday, China summoned U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt "to express concerns over the U.S. decision on imposing quotas," Xinhua said.
According to Xinhua, Vice Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong told Randt that "the Chinese government is shocked at and expresses dissatisfaction with the U.S. decision, which had been made despite strong opposition from the Chinese side."
He said the United States "misinterpreted and abused the restriction measures against Chinese textile products."
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said Randt had "assured Vice Minister Zhou that he would pass the Chinese concerns on to Washington."
Xinhua said Thursday that Randt had been summoned again, this time by Ma, who expressed "deep regret and firm opposition" to the textile quotas.Associated Press:
