Ending trade discrimination
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Although solid Sino-US economic and trade relations do not automatically mean good political ties, they serve as a buffer to serious clashes between the two countries.
Healthy and sustained development of Sino-US commercial links will not only be beneficial to both countries but also favorable to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole.
However, under its non-market economy provisions, China's foreign trade has suffered, as it has become a victim of anti-dumping and countervailing practices by other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
According to China's Ministry of Commerce and its "Foreign Market Access Report," discriminatory trade barriers against China exist in its dealings with major trade partners, such as the United States and the European Union.
Due to some safeguard mechanisms, as well as other WTO members' concerns about China's rapidly growing international competitiveness, China faces more challenges than other members in terms of market access. This is largely the result of the non-market economy provisions of the protocol of China's accession to WTO.
The restrictions imposed by being a "non-market economy country" are drawn from the US Trade Act of 1974, which states the general provisions of the Act should not be applied to communist countries, as these countries operate a planned economy with public ownership, in which their governments seek to direct all economic activities, decide what needs to be manufactured, to whom it should be distributed and at what price, and whose currency is not freely convertible.
In the final stage of China's negotiations to obtain WTO membership, the US and EU collaborated to refuse recognition of China's market economy status. At that time, in order to join the WTO as soon as possible, China made the concession to other WTO members that it be treated as a non-market economy country for the first 15 years.
