US wins WTO dispute against China’s grain import quotas

The United States won a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against China’s use of tariff-rate quotas for rice, wheat and corn, which it successfully argued limited market access for US grain exports, reported Reuters.

A WTO dispute panel ruled that under the terms of its 2001 WTO accession, China’s administration of the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) violated its obligation to administer them on a “transparent, predictable and fair basis”.

TRQs are two-level tariffs, with a limited volume of imports allowed at the lower “in-quota” tariff and subsequent imports charged an “out-of-quota” tariff, which is usually much higher.

The case, lodged by the Obama administration in late 2016, marked the second US victory in recent months. In March, Washington clinched a WTO ruling on China’s price support for grains.