China: US bill on yuan would violate WTO rules

[Ghost Dog]

Source: AFP

AFP - China said Thursday a bill passed by US lawmakers that could punish Beijing for allegedly manipulating the value of the yuan would violate World Trade Organisation rules.

The comments by commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian, carried by Xinhua news agency, come after US policymakers overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to punish China for what they called its unfairly undervalued currency.

"It is inconsistent with relevant rules of the World Trade Organisation to conduct an anti-subsidy investigation based on exchange rate reasons," Yao said.

"China has never undervalued its currency in order to gain a competitive advantage. The US cannot use its trade deficit with China as an excuse to adopt trade protectionist measures."

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20100930-china-us-bill-yuan-would-violate-wto-rules

[dipsydoodle]

1. Draft legislation which may not ulimately pass

Probably would violate WTO rules but would also take years to sort out as happened with the US / EU banana debacle.

[Kringle]

2. Obama could fix any WTO issues with the stroke of a pen .nt

[molly77]

3. Don't we have a history of breaking any treaty or agreement

which is not convenient? We owe China a lot of money that we are unable to pay back. That and only that is the problem.

[pampango]

4. Yeah, Bush's "cowboy diplomacy" left a history of breaking agreements but Obama seems to value

negotiations with other countries over "going it alone" (the essence of "cowboy diplomacy"). The prospects for future negotiated settlements won't be helped if Obama is seen as no more trustworthy than Bush was in terms of living up to agreements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt#Foreign_ownership



Foreigners hold about 28% of our public debt. China (21.9%), Japan (19.8%) and the UK (8.8%) are our top three creditor countries. So China holds about 6% of our debt, while Americans hold about 72%. If we ever stop paying our debts, China, Japan, and the UK (and a host of other countries) would be hurt, but would survive.

[Stumbler]

5. Maybe I'm mistaken, but hasn't China already violated some WTO rules?

If so, then why can't we? I mean we've got political leaders using Saudi Arabia as an example of how we shouldn't tolerate certain religions and their buildings.

Additionally, as a nation we have an historic tradition of breaking treaties we don't care to oblige; just ask some Native American communities about our government's willingness to comply to established treaties...

[pampango]

6. China has, as has the US. Just check Brazil and Mexico that have WTO-backed punitive tariffs on US

products. The US has some WTO-sactioned punitive tariffs against some Chinese products for the same reason.

We certainly have a tradition of breaking treaties, though I wouldn't call that our finest hour or a tradition I would like to see continued.

[dipsydoodle]

7. China issues US yuan bill warning

China has warned that a US bill aimed at penalising it for currency manipulation could "harm relations" between the two economic giants.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said China was "resolutely opposed" to the bill, which treats undervalued currencies as illegal export subsidies.

China is accused of keeping the yuan artificially low to help its exporters.

The bill has been voted through by the US House of Representatives, but still needs Senate and presidential approval.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11442733

[sonomak]

8. Letting China in the WTO was a BIG mistake

China has benefited from the so-called free trade at the expense of everyone else.

[independent_voter]

9. Trade deficits are a choice

continued delegation of soverignty is a choice

[donco]

10. Scew the WTO

get out of it and bring some manufacturing back here.