In October, the United States applied a broad series of trade regulations, in order to curtail the presence of China’s semiconductor industry, provoking unrest and unleashing complaints from this sector of the industry.

China, in response to these measures, initiated through its Ministry of Commerce a dispute in the World Trade Organization against the United States, for the control established over the export of chips.

China launches formal complaint over US trade restrictions

“China takes legal action within the WTO framework as a necessary way to address our concerns and uphold our legitimate interests,” reported a statement from the Ministry of Commerce of China. The entity also emphasized that US restrictions “threaten the stability of global industrial supply chains”, in the message conveyed by his diplomatic mission in Geneva.

The so-called “request for consultations” is the first step in a long regular pipeline to follow at the world trade body.

In line with the measures applied in recent months, the United States has blocked appointments to the WTO’s highest governing body for trade disputes, a condition that makes it difficult to resolve disputes through this body.

“We have received a request for consultations from the People’s Republic of China, related to certain US actions affecting semiconductors,” said Adam Hodge, spokesman for the office of the US Trade Representative. “As we have already communicated to the PRC, these specific actions relate to national security, and the WTO is not the appropriate forum to discuss issues related to national security.”added Hodge, in an emailed statement that strengthens posture of State that they have defended since the establishment of these measures.

The complaint, formally issued by China, was initiated as a sign of support for the affected members of its industry. In October, the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) stated that “such a unilateral measure will not only damage the global supply chain of the semiconductor industry, but more importantly, it will create an atmosphere of uncertainty, which will negatively affect trust, goodwill and the spirit of cooperation that have the players of the global semiconductor industry, carefully cultivated over the past decades».

This new action by China, regarding the restrictions imposed on the export of chips from the United States, comes just days after the issuance of a WTO ruling against Washington, in a separate lawsuit over the tariffs applied to metals that had filed China along with other claimants. The United States, firm with its critical stance against the WTO arbitration procedures, rejected the conclusions of the regulatory body.