01 Viewpoint
The World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a verdict on Tuesday (15th) on the Sino -US trade war, stating that the Trump administration's tariffs imposed on more than $ 2 billion of Chinese goods not only did not have reasonable reasons, but also did not comply with the rules for the organization.After Trump came to power, unilateralism has become the main axis of the foreign affairs of Washington, and trade friction between the country occurs from time to time.If countries do not adhere to the resolving disputes in the multilateral trade system, the international order will retreat to the bullying jungle world.
In mid -2018, U.S. President Trump used the protection of intellectual property to start the trade war with Article 301, and successively imposed a tariff of 20 % of Chinese goods with a total value of more than 36 million US dollars.In addition to exporting tariffs to the US export goods such as soybeans, China also complained to the WTO in September, accusing Washington's violation of international trade rules.
After two years of investigation, the WTO's verdict states that Washington has not fully explained that the need for measures to protect public ethics. In addition, it violates the regulations of the same tariff rate between the organization and the requirements of all trading partners.However, the US trade representative Robert E. Lighthizer not only did not accept the verdict, but also attacked the WTO attempt to prevent the United States from helping the Chinese workers.In his statement, Littichzer refers to that even if the United States has submitted a large number of evidence about the theft of intellectual property rights in China, the WTO has no remedy for such improper behaviors, and emphasizes that the United States must defend self -protection, so as not to avoid unfair trade.Instead, Trump also said that the United States would do something on WTO because they let China escape from the crime of murder.
WTO must reform non -promotion
The United States still has 60 days to decide how to respond to the ruling, but Washington has long been formed by its own system.At the end of last year, after Trump refused to appoint the WTO agency to appoint the new arbitration judge, the appeal mechanism of the World Trade has long been false.Although this means that the party defeated by the preliminary trial only needs to perform the decision, it also reduces the policy options of Washington. Only the means other than the system will be left to strengthen the thinking of unilateralism.In the past three years, Trump haspass the trade protection measures moved out of the WTO, but it does not necessarily resolve the trade deficit and revive the local industry. In the end, it will not only destroy the authority and system of the WTO as the arbiter, but also gradually return to the international order backwards.Power is the old world of axioms.
In fact, the WTO is not as good as Trump's words. Even if the system is missing, it is not useful to think about it, but to innovate its shortcomings.For example, the United States has a good criticism of the WTO, such as defining the guidelines of developing countries and long appeals, etc. It is not unprecedented, and there are real reforms.Of course, there are many disadvantages of the WTO, but it can not only reduce the conflict caused by disorderly competition as the institutional framework of national competition, but also prevents the weakness of a country.Therefore, after any country has learned the lessons of the economic frenzy before World War II, it should also defend the law to govern the international order by law.
