WTO favors China in longstanding trade dispute with EU

GENEVA -- The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Tuesday confirmed its ruling that the European Union (EU)'s imposition of anti-dumping measures on certain iron or steel fasteners from China was illicit, ending a seven-year legal battle which saw Chinese exports of screws, nuts and bolts to the EU plummet.

Following the imposition of EU duties on the Chinese imports, China said in 2009 that strict rules regulating the implementation of anti-dumping measures had not been respected.

This saw the WTO rule in favor of Chinese claims against EU tariff policies in both 2010 and 2011, though the Asian economic powerhouse deemed subsequent EU compliance measures insufficient.

This prompted China to return to the WTO and ask for the establishment of a compliance panel to decide whether or not EU policies were legal under its framework.

Having appealed WTO's August 2015 decision that they were not, the EU lost its compliance appellate body report appeal on Jan 18, giving reason to China's qualms towards EU trade policy.

Following the WTO ruling, the Chinese ministry of commerce on Monday said the anti-dumping measures had affected $1 billion' worth of Chinese exports and more than 100,000 jobs in China, resulting in huge economic losses to the industry.

The ministry urged the EU to respect the latest ruling, "or China reserves the rights to take further action under the WTO framework."

Two Chinese industry associations -- China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, and China General Machine Components Industry Association -- on Tuesday also called on the EU to uphold WTO rules and remove its anti-dumping duty on steel fasteners from China after the WTO ruled in favor of Chinese makers.

China will be celebrating 15 years of WTO membership in December 2016.