The 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (MC13) was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. During the meeting, which ran from February 26 to 29, the trade dispute between the two countries, the United States and China, was another important topic.
According to reports, during the meeting, US and Chinese business officials met and discussed the issues of trade relations between the two countries, but there was no significant progress in this regard. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) ambassador Catherine Tay said in a meeting with China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao that "China is saddened by the inequality caused by the country's policy rather than the market." Wang Wentao mentioned that Beijing is "worried about obstacles in the US-China trade relationship".
Four days before the World Trade Organization meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual report on China's compliance with WTO regulations. In this report, the United States identified China as "the biggest challenger to the international trade system established by the World Trade Organization" and said that "China has been in the World Trade Organization for 22 years and still does not leave the market, and still uses state-led economic and trade methods. This is contrary to the standards and principles set by the World Trade Organization," he accused. The Chinese side not only rejected the US's criticism of itself, but also complained that the US has labeled China's legitimate business practices as ``economic violence''.
Dr. Free Ekram, an expert on Chinese affairs in Turkey, pointed out that although China entered the World Trade Organization as a "developing country" and enjoyed many privileges, it did not fulfill any of its commitments.
At the World Trade Organization meeting in Abu Dhabi, the representative of the United States, Ms. Catherine Tay, highlighted this issue. She said, "China's economic development is causing pressure in all parts of the world." He also said that the WTO needs reforms to solve these problems. Mrs. Catherine Tay, in her speech published by the Office of the US Trade Representative, also focused on the inadequacy of the World Trade Organization in solving this problem. All members of the international trading system must continue to work together to protect our common interests, especially China's areas of interest from its harmful policies.
Dr. Free Ekram said that China's trade method is a problem for countries such as Turkey, which is a member of the World Trade Organization, but so far the World Trade Organization has not found an effective way to solve it.
According to the BBC, at the meeting in Abu Dhabi, members of the World Trade Organization focused on issues such as banning subsidies to businesses, banning e-commerce tariffs and reforming the World Trade Organization. However, since it is not easy to get the consent of all 166 member states on any issue, it will not be easy to make progress.
According to the BBC, the amount of goods sold by the United States and China to each other decreased by 17 percent last year as the trade dispute between the two sides deepened. "I don't think it's necessarily negative at all, it could be a positive sign of moving towards diversification," Ms Catherine Tay said when asked by the BBC on the final day of the meeting in Abu Dhabi.
The trade dispute between the United States and China began under former President Trump, and Baidin's administration has continued this policy. U.S. border tariffs on China, a ban on products made with Uyghur forced labor, and a ban on the export of sensitive technologies such as computer chips by the Baidin government to China have all fueled trade disagreements.
Dr. Raymond Ko, a China researcher at the Rand Research Center in the United States, believes that because the factors causing China's business style are related to the country's policies and structures, it will be very difficult for China to change it and solve the current slowdown in economic growth.
"The problems in China are political and structural in nature," he says. If China does not change its state-led development that provides subsidies for production and exports, it will not be able to reverse the slow economic growth it is currently experiencing and will not be able to get out of the so-called ``middle income trap'' in the economy.
Dr. Raymond says that fundamentally changing the way we do business will involve structural and policy changes, including a focus on privatized capital, the protection of private property rights, respect for intellectual property, and a shift away from policy-driven economic decisions. Raymond Ko said he does not see the Chinese Communist Party making such decisions at this time:
"Some economists estimate that China's annual GDP, that is, the growth rate of gross domestic product, may be around 3 percent, which is still a good number," he said. In fact, it is not. If China's per capita gross domestic product is around 30-40 thousand dollars, then we can say a 3 percent growth rate is good. But China's annual production per capita is about 12,000 dollars. So for China, a 3 percent growth rate is not good at all. Changing this situation depends on the Chinese Communist Party taking effective measures. In my view, China does not seem to be able to do so at this time. So we are likely to see a slowdown in China's economy in the long run.