China sees rise in trade remedy probes

By Hu Weijia Source:Global Times Published: 2015-1-29 23:48:02

MOFCOM blames increased protectionism


Workers check solar panels at a plant in Tongxiang, East China’s Zhejiang Province. Photo: CFP


 
China faced 97 trade remedy probes in 2014, with high-tech products becoming a new key target, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Thursday, pointing to an increase in trade protectionism confronting China amid a sluggish world economy.

Twenty-two countries and regions initiated 97 trade remedy investigations targeting Chinese products last year, up 5.4 percent year-on-year, according to data released by MOFCOM on Thursday. 

Of these, anti-dumping investigations totaled 61, countervailing probes reached 14, and trade safeguard measures against Chinese products numbered 22, the data showed.

The investigations involved trade worth $10.5 billion, a surge of 286 percent from a year earlier, MOFCOM said.  

2014 was the 19th consecutive year in which China suffered more trade remedy probes than any other country, the ministry's data showed.

Amid a slow recovery in the world's economy, some countries have turned to protectionism to safeguard their domestic industries, which explains the rising amount of trade remedy investigations facing Chinese products, Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the ministry, said at a news conference for the release of the data in Beijing on Thursday.

Exports of high-tech products, including solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, wind power sets and mobile phones, became a new key target for trade remedy investigations in 2014, according to Shen.

Developing countries such as India and Brazil have mounted trade probes because their high-tech industries have gradually increased in competitiveness, so they want to decrease their imports of high-tech products from China, Tu Xinquan, deputy director of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The slow recovery in the world economy has also prompted some developed countries to strengthen trade protectionism in order to relieve employment pressure in their domestic industries, Tu said.

The US solar industry currently provides jobs for nearly 174,000 workers in 50 states and is creating jobs at a rate nearly 20 times higher than employment growth in the overall economy, according to a census unveiled by US-based independent nonprofit organization The Solar Foundation on January 15.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) announced on January 21 that crystalline silicon PV products from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan were being sold in the US at less than fair value and that the firms making them had received government subsidies. The decision gave the US Commerce Department the green light to levy heavy anti-dumping duties and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese PV products. 

The US does not recognize China's market economy status so it often uses a third country as a reference to calculate the production costs of Chinese PV products. But it is unfair to use another country as a benchmark because every country's situation is different, Bai Ming, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Thursday.

On January 22, MOFCOM expressed strong discontent over the USITC's decision and said the US trade remedy measures are damaging for US customers as well as China's domestic companies.

But Bai also noted that Chinese firms should have more stringent management standards and should adapt to the rules of international trade.

In December 2014, China's Ministry of Finance said it had prohibited local governments from rolling out preferential tax policies for enterprises or lowering administrative fees, in order to avoid trade friction.

In 2015, Chinese firms are expected to continue facing a large number of trade remedy investigations, Shen said at the conference.

As China has seen sustained growth in its role in world trade, it's normal to see a corresponding increase in trade friction, Bai said.

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