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China is to renew its request to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for an independent panel on the controversial United states steel tariffs, despite recent US exemption of some products and a ruling on an anti-dumping charge in favor of Chinese steel companies.
"China will go for an independent panel at the WTO unless the United States exempts all of China's steel products from its tariffs," Wednesday's China Daily quoted a Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC) official as saying.
A WTO official also confirmed that China's second request for an independent steel panel, together with those of Norway and Switzerland, has been included in the next meeting of its dispute settlement body scheduled on June 24.
China made its first request in early June but the United States used its right at the WTO to hinder the establishment of such a panel on June 7.
China follows the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea, which have had independent panels on US steel tariffs set up at the WTO with their second requests.
The measures are in response to US tariffs of eight percent to 30 percent, adopted by US President George W. Bush in March to protect US domestic steel industries.
This is the first time China brings its trade dispute with another country to the WTO for judgment.
(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2002)
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