The World Trade Organisation said on Wednesday that discussions on trade tensions were "constructive", after China accused the US of imposing "tariff shocks" that could upend the global trading system.
China condemned tariffs launched or threatened by US President Donald Trump at a WTO meeting on Tuesday. Washington dismissed China's comments as hypocritical. Trump has announced sweeping 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to respond with retaliatory tariffs and to file a WTO dispute against Washington in what could be an early test of Trump's stance towards the institution.
The majority of the six countries that participated in the talks on trade turbulence, put on the agenda by China, raised concern about mounting tensions, but also called for restraint, said WTO Spokesperson Ismaila Dieng in a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
Two trade sources at the meeting told Reuters that some countries expressed deep concern about the ramifications of tariffs, while others criticised China for alleged market distortions.
It is the first time that mounting trade frictions were formally addressed on the agenda of the watchdog's top decision-making body, the General Council.
"These 'Tariff Shocks' heighten economic uncertainty, disrupt global trade, and risk domestic inflation, market distortion, or even global recession," China's Ambassador to the WTO Li Chenggang said at a closed-door meeting of the global trade body. US envoy David Bisbee took the floor in response, calling China's economy a "predatory non-market economic system."
Some delegates said they considered China's intervention more as an effort to show itself as supporting WTO rules, a posture that can help China win allies.
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