Britain on Wednesday pushed G7 allies to get tough on China over its trade practices, or risk losing control of the international trading system, calling for an overhaul of outdated and ineffective WTO rules.
British Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss hosted a meeting with her G7 counterparts and the new head of the WTO, using Britain’s platform as president of the group to promote post-Brexit Britain as a leading free-trade advocate.
“This is the time to get tough on China and their behavior in the global trading system,” Truss told the Financial Times in an interview before the meeting.
Photo: Reuters
“If we fail to act, then we risk global trade fragmenting under the tyranny of the largest ... in which the big players feel they get to set the rules,” she said in her opening remarks to the meeting. “That winner-takes-all future would ultimately leave people across the world worse off.”
Since leaving the EU and pinning its economic future on global trade, Britain has stepped up criticism of China’s activities.
“We need to reform the dispute-settlement system, stamp out unfair industrial subsidies and make sure everybody — large or small — is following the rules and being transparent,” Truss told the meeting.
China, a WTO member since 2001, denies criticism from London that it steals intellectual property, unfairly hurts the environment or improperly trades goods made with forced labor.
Wider relations between London and Beijing have soured in the past few months, with tit-for-tat sanctions over China’s human rights record and a bitter row over reforms to the governance of Hong Kong.
Britain and other WTO members say that China benefits from exceptions to the rules that were made decades ago and no longer reflect its economic status.
“The WTO was established when China was 10 percent the size of the US economy,” Truss told the Financial Times. “It is ludicrous that it is still self-designating as a developing country — and those rules need to change.”
Other G7 allies, including US President Joe Biden, agree on the need to reform the WTO and to address China’s rising global influence.
The problem is finding a solution that all sides agree on.
Echoing the fear of many Western nations that they will lose their grip on control of the post-World War II international order to China, Truss said that unless WTO can be reformed, countries will find other frameworks to trade within.
“Fundamentally, our like-minded democracies need to win the battle for the soul of global trade ... making sure the WTO works for people across the world,” Truss told the meeting.
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