The US … uses smear tactics and blame-shifting methods to cover up its violations and sabotage
Ministry of Commerce
“China remains the biggest challenge to the international trading system established by the World Trade Organization,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in the report, adding that in the 22 years since China acceded to the WTO, the country still “embraces a state-directed, non-market approach to the economy and trade, which runs counter to the norms and principles embodied by the WTO”.
“Even more problematic, China’s approach targets industries for global market domination by Chinese companies using an array of constantly evolving nonmarket policies and practices,” the report said.
Firing back, China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the US of not complying with WTO rules and of implementing “discriminatory” industrial policies that disrupt the global supply chain by deferring the responsibility of defending multilateralism to others.
“The US does not reflect on and correct its own behaviour, but instead uses smear tactics and blame-shifting methods to cover up its violations and sabotage. This is extremely irresponsible,” it said.
On Sunday, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 13th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. During the meeting of the world’s trade ministers, Wang expressed China’s support for key WTO reform initiatives that would help it play a better role in global economic governance.
This, he said, includes striving for a resumption of the WTO’s dispute-settlement mechanism – the Appellate Body that the US paralysed by not allowing for new judges to be appointed.
The WTO has been unable to effectively address China’s continued pursuit of a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai
The US report also acknowledged that Washington had taken “critical” domestic steps to invest in key industries, including by passing the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and moving to implement those acts.
The report further accused China of “routinely” deploying economic and trade policies and practices that promote unfair competition and state-directed outcomes rather than fair competition and market-based outcomes.
“Critically, the WTO has been unable to effectively address China’s continued pursuit of a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade,” it stated.
China’s customs figures showed that the value of imports and exports between the US and China in 2023 reached US$664.5 billion – an 11.6 per cent decline from 2022.
The US is now China’s third-largest trading partner, after Asean and the European Union.
“China’s accession to the WTO has been a landmark event both for China and the rest of the world,” Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, said in a report on Monday. “China has no doubt reformed and opened up its economy, but not to the extent of becoming a full market economy.
“That duality – striving to operate as a market economy in some areas while keeping the key characteristics of a state-led planned economy in others – makes it very difficult for China to comply with the principles of the WTO.”
Garcia-Herrero added that it was “highly unlikely” that a WTO-reform proposal by the EU, focusing on the behaviours of state-owned enterprises, subsidies and countervailing measures, would come to fruition.
“In particular, the urgent need to deal with market distortions – stemming from China’s economic model, and its increasing size and influence in the rest of the world – might need to be addressed through other solutions,” she added.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
