China Addresses U.S. Cotton Subsidy Issue
December 22, 2009 Bloomberg
By Feiwen Rong
China, the world’s largest cotton importer, will try to resolve the issue of U.S. cotton subsidies through the World Trade Organization, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
“The U.S. massively subsidizes its cotton, violating fair trade and fair competition, especially affecting the Chinese cotton farmers’ interests,” Yao Jian, spokesman at the ministry, said in a regular media briefing. “China will actively seek resolution on the issue under the WTO framework.”
China has about 140 million people involved in cotton production and 20 million workers in the textile industry, Yao said. U.S. supplies account for almost a third of the nation’s cotton imports, which increased almost 12-fold in six years to reach 2.11 million metric tons in 2008, he said.
Last month, Brazil was cleared by the Geneva-based World Trade Organization to impose $294.7 million in trade sanctions because of U.S. cotton subsidies. At the time, U.S. officials said the WTO’s rulings would be complied with and they doubted Brazil would need to exercise the sanctions.
(Story found in original format here.)
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
