U.S. and China clash at World Trade Organization
A U.S. envoy to the World Trade Organization has condemned China’s trade policy and said Beijing’s exhortations against protectionism have “entered the realm of Alice in Wonderland.”
“It is amazing to watch a country that is the world’s most protectionist, mercantilist economy position itself as the self-proclaimed defender of free trade and the global trading system,” Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on Tuesday.
“White is black. Up is down.”
Chinese and U.S. ambassadors to the WTO clashed at the regulatory body’s general council meeting in Geneva, where Beijing lashed out at President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on US$150 billion of Chinese goods.
Washington defended its measures and criticized China’s vows of retaliation.
The clash comes less than a week after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin led a U.S. delegation to China to try to negotiate a way out of the rising tensions.
Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he would speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day on trade, “where good things will happen.”
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