China filed a World Trade Organization complaint on Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump's new 10% tariff on Chinese imports and his cancellation of a duty-free exemption for low-value packages, arguing the actions are "protectionist" and break WTO rules. - REUTERS
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00:00China filed a World Trade Organization complaint against U.S. President Donald Trump's new
00:0610% tariff on Chinese imports. In the Wednesday filing, China argues that the tariff, as well
00:12as Trump's cancellation of a duty-free exemption for low-value packages, are protectionist
00:17and break WTO rules. It says the duties are discriminatory and
00:21quote, are imposed on the basis of unfounded and false allegations concerning China.
00:26Beijing's complaint also comes after Trump's move to shut a trade loophole that allowed
00:31small-value packages to be shipped duty-free. The so-called de minimis provision, used widely
00:36by e-commerce giants like Xi'an and Taimu, exempted packages with goods worth less than
00:41$800 from duties. Around 1.36 billion shipments entered the
00:46United States using the de minimis provision in 2024. The Trump administration has blamed
00:51the de minimis exemption for allowing fentanyl and its precursor chemicals to enter the U.S.
00:56unscreened. Recent Reuters reporting has also found that drug traffickers are exploiting
01:01the exemption. Beijing's Wednesday WTO filing could lead
01:05to a ruling that Trump's duties violated trade rules, in the same manner that a 2020 ruling
01:11found that his first-term China tariffs broke trade regulations.
01:15However, such a victory would be unlikely to satisfy Beijing because the WTO's appeals
01:20body has been largely inoperable for years. That's because of Washington's blocking of
01:25appointments of appellate judges over what it views as judicial overreach by the body,
01:30which has prohibited a final decision in the 2020 case.