THE World Trade Organization found Tuesday that the United States breached global trading rules by imposing multibillion-dollar tariffs in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, a ruling that drew anger from Washington.

The Trump administration says its tariffs imposed two years ago on more than US$200 billion in Chinese goods were justified because “China was stealing intellectual property and forcing U.S. companies to transfer technology for access to China’s markets.”

But the WTO’s three-member panel said the U.S. duties broke trading rules because they applied only to China and were above maximum rates agreed to by the United States. Washington had not then adequately explained why its measures were a justified exception, the panel concluded.

China expressed its appreciation for the WTO ruling that the United States’ Section 301 tariffs on Chinese products were in breach of its WTO obligations, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

Calling the ruling made by a WTO expert panel “objective and fair,” the spokesperson said it’s a must for China to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests by resorting to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to tackle the wrongful practices of the U.S. unilateralism and trade protectionism.

It also demonstrates China’s firm determination to respect WTO rules and safeguard the authority of the multilateral trading system.

Noting that the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core is the cornerstone of international trade, the spokesperson said China has always firmly supported and safeguarded the cornerstone and respected WTO rules and rulings.

China also hopes that the U.S. side will fully respect the ruling of the WTO expert panel and the rules-based multilateral trading system, take concrete actions and work with China and other WTO members to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system and promote stable and sound development of the world economy, the spokesperson said. (SD-Agencies)