China has agreed to talk with the EU and the US over a complaint concerning tariffs on imports of car parts, the country's Ministry of Commerce said.
Sun Zhenyu (孫振宇), China's ambassador to the WTO, has notified delegates of the EU and US that China accepted their request for talks, the ministry said yesterday in a three-line statement posted on its Web site.
The US and EU, who together purchased 43 percent of China's exports last year, on March 30 accused China of imposing discriminatory tariffs on imports of foreign car parts. It's the second complaint against China, the world's third-largest trading nation, since entering the WTO in 2001.
China's decision came a day after Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀) signed agreements to buy US$4.4 billion worth of goods from US companies including airplanes, auto parts and electronics. China also wants to ease tensions with the US over China's currency controls and the nation's trade surplus before President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) visits Washington later this month.
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said last month the complaint was filed because China's decision last year to impose tariffs on auto parts, based on the overall value of imports in a complete vehicle, violates the nation's WTO commitments.
As a first step to resolving the dispute, the US and EU must negotiate a solution with China over 60 days. Should that fail, the US and EU may ask the WTO to arbitrate.
China's vehicle market is the world's third largest as economic expansion of more than 9.5 percent a year over the past five years has spurred incomes and spending on cars and homes. The Chinese market for auto parts was worth US$19.1 billion in 2004, the US says.
In April last year, China began a system of levying tariffs on auto parts based on the amount of imports in the complete vehicle. Imported parts face a maximum duty of 14 percent if they account for 60 percent or less of the overall vehicle. If the vehicle is built with more than 60 percent of imported components, the parts face -- retroactively -- a duty of about 28 percent, equivalent to the tariff of a complete vehicle.
That decision, which won't be fully imposed until July, violates a commitment China made in 2001 to cut tariffs on auto parts and scrap rules that force automakers to buy Chinese components, the US trade office said.
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