US to File WTO Complaint Against China
From the Financial Times:The US is set to launch its first World Trade Organisation complaint against China, charging that Beijing is violating global trade rules by offering big tax breaks for domestic semiconductor producers.
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The case, which US officials said could be filed as early as Wednesday, will mark the end of a two-year honeymoon in which Washington has tried to resolve a series of disputes with China without resorting to the WTO.
A combination of election-year pressures on the Bush administration to take a tough stand on China and Beijing's refusal to budge on the tax issue has led Washington to bring the case.
At issue is a 17 per cent value-added tax that China imposes on all semiconductors. The Chinese government rebates all but 3 to 6 per cent of that tax for domestic producers but retains the full tax on imports, giving domestic chipmakers a huge advantage in an industry with narrow profit margins.
The Chinese tax has become the biggest international trade issue for the $70bn (£39bn, E57bn) US semiconductor industry, which fears the rebate is encouraging semiconductor production in China at the expense of US imports.
Matt's Chat
You see, fair trade is only fair if it is fair... Let's see if John Effing Kerry comes out foragainst this too.Mark's Remarks
Well, the WTO will do nothing, because it is run by liberals who hate America, too. The appeasers of the world will simply warn China to play fair, and nothing will be done. John Kerry would try to throw money and missile tech at China, just like his predecessor Bill "Cash Ho" Clinton did. Mr. Kerry would also probably permanently seal all our oil beds and coal areas to give China an even greater monopoly on coal than when Clinton declared the world's 2nd largest deposit of clean burning coal off limits. Yep, and who benefitted? China. We need to take a stand. I only hope that the WTO wakes up to justice and sticks it to China. Thru the Dimcraps, they have been sticking it to us for years, because Dimcraps love dem communists, they really do.
