US tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200bn ruled illegal by World Trade Organisation

Justin Vallejo

September 15, 2020 at 2:12 p.m.·1 min read

Onlookers watch from a harbour wall as the largest container ship in world, CSCL Globe, docks during its maiden voyage, at the port of Felixstowe in south east England (Reuters)

Tariffs imposed on China during Donald Trump’s trade war violated international trade rules, a World Trade Organisation panel ruled on Tuesday.

In its ruling, the WTO panel ruled tariffs on $200bn worth of goods were illegal because they only applied to products from China and the US had not shown the products benefited from unfair practices including intellectual property theft and technology transfer, according to the Associated Press.

While the decision would theoretically allow China to impose tariffs on US goods in retaliation, in practice they would be unable to respond as the ruling could be appealed to a court that is not currently operating.

In September 2018, the US imposed duties of 10 per cent on $200bn worth goods before increasing them to 25 per cent eight months later. In June 2018, 25 per cent duties were imposed on Chinese goods worth $34bn, the AP reported.