The Trump administration closely follows a complaint from China before the WTO that accuses the United States of making unfounded accusations about China's role in fentanyl trade.
The White House said Thursday that it was closely following a complaint from China to the World Trade Organization that accuses the United States of making “unfounded and false accusations” about China's role in the fentanyl trade to justify tariffs on Chinese products.
The complaint was filed on Wednesday, one day after President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Chinese products by 10 %. The White House said that the new tariffs on Chinese products aimed to stop the fentanyl opioid flow and its chemical precursors.
China indicated that I was imposing retaliation tariffs To some US products from February 10, including 15 % tariffs on imports of coal and natural gas and 10 % to oil, agricultural equipment, high emission vehicles and trucks. The country also implemented export restrictions of certain critical minerals and launched an antitrust investigation into the American technological giant Google.
In the presentation before the WTO, China said that the US tariff measures were “discriminatory and protectionists” and violated the rules of international trade. Beijing has requested a consultation with Washington.
China's request will launch a process within the WTO appeal body, which has the last word in dispute resolution. A White House official told VOA that the administration was monitoring the Beijing file, but did not provide more details.
Analysts say that Beijing's measure is largely performative and it is unlikely to produce a lot of relief. The appeal body has been largely paralyzed after the first measure of the Trump administration in 2019 to block the appointments of appeal judges, so it considered a judicial overreach. The Biden administration continued with politics.
China acknowledges that the WTO will not exert much pressure on the United States because Washington is totally able to block any legal process there, said Jeffrey Schott, principal researcher at the Peterson Institute of International Economics.
“Therefore, I think the Chinese reaction has been moderate by indicating that they will act an eye for an eye against US trade,” he told VOA.
Schott added that there is “a desire to remain calm” and moderate the damage, as happened during the first Trump administration when a commercial agreement was agreed after the commercial retaliation actions.
On the American side, 10% tariffs against China are much lower than the up to 60% that Trump promised during his presidential campaign, he said.
Trump-XI call
Trump imposed import tariffs on Beijing after delaying his actions to impose 25 % tariffs on Mexico and Canada after Monday's conversations with their leaders. Tariff critics expect a conversation between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to lead to similar results.
White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the so -called “is being programmed and will happen very soon.”
However, Trump has dismissed the negative impact of China's tariffs and said “I was not in a hurry” to talk to XI.
“We will talk to him at the appropriate time,” Trump told journalists at the White House on Tuesday.
Unlike the Trump agreement with Mexico and Canada, it is unlikely to reach an agreement with Beijing quickly, considering the strong bipartisan support for the imposition of tariffs on China due to the concern about the influx of illegal drugs and other concerns of National Security, said Rachel Ziemba, an attached investigator of the Center for a new US security.
“Even if they reach some kind of agreement to resolve this particular tariff or eliminate counter -aarence, there will probably be more tariffs to China later in this administration,” he told VOA.
The United States postal service (USPS) announced on Tuesday that it suspended the acceptance of incoming packages from China and Hong Kong, thus closing a legal vacuum that Chinese clothing companies and other consumer goods have used in the past. These companies, including Shein and Temu, as well as Amazon sellers, eluded existing American tariffs when making shipments to US clients directly from China.
On Wednesday, USPS reversed his decision and said he would work with customs and border protection to find a way to collect the new tariffs.
The postal service “will continue to accept all the mail and international packages of China and Hong Kong,” he said. “The USPS and the Customs Office and Border Protection are working in close collaboration to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new tariffs of China to guarantee the least possible interruption in the delivery of packages.”
It is not clear how the rate will be charged in these direct transactions between Chinese vendors and American buyers.
Trump's commercial actions on China, Canada and Mexico, as well as their threat of imposing tariffs on all foreign shipments to the country, including those of European allies, have caused confusion and uncertainty in global trade.
Companies generally respond to commercial uncertainty postponing investments or moving the highest costs to customers. But the damage goes beyond the small and large national and international companies, said Ziemba.