{"id":112152,"date":"2017-08-15T05:37:25","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T09:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=112152"},"modified":"2017-08-15T05:37:25","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T09:37:25","slug":"china-says-us-trade-probe-would-violate-international-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/15\/china-says-us-trade-probe-would-violate-international-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"China says US trade probe would violate international rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Beijing<\/a>
Beijing requires automakers and other foreign companies in China to work through joint ventures, usually with state-owned partners. (Photo<\/a>: Vin Crosbie\/ Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEIJING\u2014 China criticized President Donald Trump’s order for a possible U.S. trade investigation of Beijing’s technology policies as a violation of global rules and said Tuesday it will \u201cresolutely safeguard\u201d Chinese interests.<\/p>\n

Trade groups for technology companies welcomed Trump’s order Monday but the Chinese Commerce Ministry said it violated the spirit of international trade and Washington’s World Trade Organization commitments. The ministry said Beijing will take \u201call appropriate measures\u201d if Chinese companies are hurt but gave no details.<\/p>\n

Trump told U.S. trade officials to look into whether to launch a formal investigation into whether Beijing improperly requires foreign companies to hand over technology in exchange for market access.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the U.S. side disregards the fact it does not respect multilateral trade rules and takes action to damage the economic and trade relations between the two sides, then the Chinese side will never sit back and will take all appropriate measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese side,\u201d said a Commerce Ministry statement.<\/p>\n

Beijing requires automakers and other foreign companies in China to work through joint ventures, usually with state-owned partners. They often are required to give technology to partners that might become competitors.<\/p>\n

More than 20 per cent of 100 American companies that responded to a survey by the U.S.-China Business Council, an industry group, said they were asked to transfer technology within the past three years as a condition of market access, according to Jake Parker, the group’s vice-president for China operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t believe market access should be contingent on transferring technology,\u201d said Parker. \u201cIt goes counter to China’s WTO commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign business groups complain companies are being squeezed out of promising Chinese markets or pressured to hand over technology for electric cars and other emerging industries.<\/p>\n

Trump said in April he was setting aside trade disputes while Washington and Beijing worked together to persuade North Korea to give up nuclear weapons development. But American officials have resumed criticizing Chinese policy in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White House is right to make clear all options are on the table,\u201d said Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, an industry group in Washington, in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Commerce Ministry complained Trump’s order was \u201cstrong unilateralism\u201d that violated the spirit of multinational trade agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the U.S. side should strictly adhere to commitments and should not become the destroyer of multilateral rules,\u201d said the statement.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Monday’s order, the Chinese foreign ministry appealed to Trump to avoid a \u201ctrade war.\u201d A state newspaper, the China Daily, said an investigation could \u201cintensify tensions,\u201d especially over intellectual property.<\/p>\n

Parker noted then-President Barack Obama ordered a similar investigation of Chinese policy on green technology in 2010. That ended in a negotiated settlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn’t lead to any unilateral sanctions against the Chinese,\u201d said Parker. \u201cNor did it undermine the overall U.S.-China trade relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIJING\u2014 China criticized President Donald Trump’s order for a possible U.S. trade investigation of Beijing’s technology policies as a violation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":86732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,17],"tags":[21287],"class_list":["post-112152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-w","tag-china-criticized-president-donald-trumps-order-for-a-possible-u-s","mauthors-joe-mcdonald","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}