Monday April 9, 2007 Washington files two WTO complaints against China
WASHINGTON (AFP), 20:24 p.m.
© AFP
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, January 27, 2007 in DavosThe United States announced on Monday that it is filing a lawsuit against China at the WTO on the violation of intellectual property rights and barriers to access to the market for certain cultural products, accentuating the tension in trade relations between the two countries.
The first complaint transmitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerns the violation of intellectual property rights constituted by pirating by Chinese companies of foreign works. The second concerns the obstacles posed by the Chinese authorities to the distribution of foreign music, films and books.
"Piracy and counterfeiting in China remain at unacceptable levels", said US Trade Representative (USTR) Ms. Schwab in a statement.
"As the bilateral dialogue has not provided a solution to our concerns, we are taking the next step which is to request consultations before the WTO," she stressed.
The threat of an American complaint on the question of the protection of intellectual property rights goes back to October but the United States had agreed to postpone its decision at the request of Beijing which wished to be able to still negotiate on this question.
Regarding the second complaint, Ms. Schwab recalled that only Chinese state-owned enterprises can import foreign books, records and films. "These products are the favorite targets of people who pirate intellectual property rights and the legal barriers between these products and consumers in China give hackers a clear advantage."said Ms. Schwab.
She stressed that the United States intends to continue its dialogue with China and noted that the United States and China "have been able to cooperate in a fruitful and pragmatic manner on several issues related to the respect of intellectual property rights and that the China has taken several measures to improve the protection of these rights.
More "We have not been able to agree on several changes in Chinese laws that we consider necessary in view of the commitments made by China at the WTO", said the USTR.
Under WTO rules, the request for consultation is the first step in filing a complaint. The parties concerned then have 60 days to try to resolve their dispute through consultation. If this is not the case, the requesting party may refer the file to the conflict resolution commission.
The Americans had already taken, ten days ago, sanctions against imports into the United States of Chinese coated paper. Beijing then expressed its "deep discontent" and considered that this measure went "against the consensus between the leaders of the two countries to settle disputes through dialogue".
In early February, the United States also asked the WTO to launch proceedings against China for granting "illegal subsidies" to its industry.
At the end of October, the WTO agreed to examine the dispute between China and several Western countries, including the United States, over the tariffs applied by Beijing to auto parts.
The US trade deficit with China reached 232 billion dollars in 2006, more than a quarter of the total deficit.
The Republican administration of President George W. Bush therefore finds itself under pressure from Democrats, who took control of Congress in January, to toughen their tone against Beijing.
The Americans also regularly denounce the fact that the Chinese maintain their currency, the yuan, deliberately undervalued thanks to an almost fixed exchange rate with the dollar to promote their exports
... on the other hand, the parity of the euro which disadvantages our exports (notably Airbus and is in the process of causing it to sink) does not hinder W. Bush or anyone else !!