U.S. files two new trade cases against China

Source: Xinhuanet | 04-10-2007 11:15

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government on Monday filed two trade cases against China in the World Trade Organization (WTO) over copyright piracy and restrictions on the sale of American books, music, videos and movies.

The two new cases represent the latest effort by the Bush administration to increase pressure on China in the trade area despite Beijing's active efforts in cracking down on piracy.

"We acknowledge that China's leadership has made the protection of intellectual property rights a priority and has taken active steps to improve IPR protection and enforcement," said U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab in a statement.

"China has taken numerous steps to improve its protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), (but) we have not been able to agree on several important changes to China's legal regime that we believe are required by China's WTO commitments."

However, Schwab noted that the Bush administration is willing to resolve these issues through dialogues with China.

"We also look forward to continuing fruitful bilateral discussions with China on other important IPR matters we have been working on together, since achieving comprehensive IPR protection requires concerted efforts on many fronts," she said.

Under WTO dispute settlement procedures, the U.S. and China would normally consult with 60 days. If it fails, a WTO dispute panel will be convened to handle it.

In late March, the U.S. government announced its decision to impose penalty tariffs against the imports of Chinese coated free sheet paper, a decision altering a 23-year old bipartisan policy of not applying the countervailing duty (CVD) law to China.

The Chinese government responded strongly in a statement of the Department of Commerce, saying such an decision "goes against the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries to resolve contradictions through dialogues."

"China strongly requires the U.S. side to reconsider the decision and make prompt changes," the statement said.

Editor:Du Xiaodan