Doing business with China: Is China keeping its WTO obligations?

Is China keeping its WTO obligations? On December 11, 2001, China became the 143rd member of the WTO after 15 years of negotiations. The accession package approved in Qatar for the People s Republic of China includes commitments on transparency and predictability, tariffs, trading rights and distributions, service agreements, TRIPS, import licensing importation and investment approvals, technical barriers to trade, taxes and subsidies. On September 15, 2010, Market Watch reported the filling of two new trade cases against China by the United States at the WTO. The two cases were related to China’s WTO obligations under the 2001 agreement. While these two fillings were not the first since the agreement was signed in 2001, one would only hope they will be the last. This paper attempts to examine China’s performance under the agreement since it was signed in 2001.