China calls US a ‘unilateral bully’ at WTO trade disputes meet as war of words escalates

New Delhi: China on Friday slammed the United States at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, calling it a “unilateral bully” and a “rule breaker” even as the war of words between the two superpowers climbed a notch higher.

Criticizing the US approach at the WTO meet, China’s ambassador to the trade watchdog Li Chenggang said, “This troubling behaviour of the US has clearly depicted an image of the United States as a unilateral bully, a rule breaker, and a supply chain disruptor.” He was speaking at a meeting on trade disputes shortly after the United States lodged an appeal against a recent WTO ruling which found that the US metal tariffs breached global rules.

Recently, the global trade regulator has made important rulings against the United States, including the metals ruling involving China and a separate trade dispute with Hong Kong over labelling.

Washington, which has for a long time criticized the WTO dispute redressal system for overreach, is now leading discussions on reforming it. Both the recent rulings against it have obviously not gone down well with the US.

But, the WTO will not be able to review Washington’s appeal of the metals case because its top appeals bench is non-functional after the United States blocked new judges.

“China would have hoped that the US would show due self-restraint not to appeal every unfavourable panel report into the void, which the US itself has created,” Li said.

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