The United States on July 13 announced a new WTO case against China over its continued use of export duties on nine raw materials that are driving up the cost of production in the United States, saying the duties violate provisions of China’s accession protocol.
[Daily News| July 13, 2016 | Inside US Trade]
In its request for consultation filed with the WTO — the first step in the dispute settlement process — the U.S. said China has not eliminated all taxes or charges applied to certain exports of raw materials listed in the case in accordance with its WTO accession protocol. The case focuses on specific tariff lines involving antimony, cobalt, copper, graphite, lead, magnesia, talc, tantalum and tin.
Specifically, the U.S. accuses China of violating paragraph 11.3 of Part I of the protocol, which says “China shall eliminate all taxes and charges applied to exports unless specifically provided for in Annex 6 of this Protocol …”
