US 'fair trade' is narrow view, violates WTO principle

The "fair trade" that the United States has been seeking is a narrow view, which ignores the relative fairness underscored by the World Trade Organization, an expert said.

Dong Yan, director of the International Trade Office at the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said US pursuit of trade, which underlines "absolute fairness," is parochial.

"It not only asks for the same competitive environment as other countries for the US producers, but also requires other economies to impose the same level of tariffs and achieve the same level of opening-up as the US," Dong said.

In fact, the WTO advocates a fair market environment that also emphasizes "relative fairness," Dong said. In designing trade rules, the WTO fully considers the different degrees of economic development between developing countries and developed ones.

"WTO supports market liberalization, but believes that the process of adjusting to trade liberalization takes time. It allows its members to do so in a gradual manner, and gives developing countries a longer period of adaptation," she said.

Dong said the US tariff proposals against China are unilateral practices, used in the hope that trade barriers could be reduced in a short period.

The US attempts to adjust the existing international trade order, and it violates the trade liberalization principle of WTO, she added.