China appeals against US tariff act amendment

BEIJING - China has filed an appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against a US tariff act amendment, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Wednesday.

The appeal filed Tuesday in Geneva seeks to overthrow a ruling in a WTO panel that the United States' 2012 GPX Act was consistent with WTO rules. The act retroactively ratified US anti-subsidy measures on non-market economy countries.

Anti-subsidy probes by the US on Chinese products actually started in 2006 with no legal basis. Believing the act violates WTO rules, China entered the WTO dispute settlement mechanism in 2012.

On March 27, a WTO panel ruled that the US failed to investigate whether double remedies arose in 25 parallel countervailing duty (CVD) and anti-dumping proceedings initiated between 2006 and 2012 against imports from China, and therefore violated WTO rules.

The MOC believes the CVD and anti-dumping duties and the GPX Act are are double remedies against Chinese exports.