White House files WTO case against China export subsidies

US trade representative Michael B. Froman announced the White House was filing a case at the World Trade Organization against Beijing’s subsidies to a broad slew of services for industries that are export-oriented, The New York Times reported. The industries concerned include agriculture, medical products, specialty chemicals, advanced metals, apparel and footwear and textiles. The reported Chinese subsidies affect American industries with powerful political constituencies in Washington with links to fence-sitters in Congress, whose support the Obama administration needs to win the trade negotiating authority necessary to push through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact with twelve countries in that region (excluding China).