US brings WTO case against Chinese farm subsidies

The Financial Times reports the US has accused China of illegally subsidizing rice, corn and wheat farmers, adding agriculture to a growing list of Washington’s concerns over Chinese overproduction and distortion of global markets. The case comes as President Barack Obama is campaigning to get a vast new Pacific Rim trade deal ratified by Congress later this year.  Washington has stepped up a trade crackdown on China in recent months, introducing steep anti-dumping tariffs on steel imports, launching a flurry of new WTO cases and pushing to resist China’s demands to be treated as a market economy under WTO rules. Tuesday’s case is the 14th it has filed against China during Obama’s presidency but its first major action against Beijing on behalf of the powerful US grain export sector.