Trump Says India, China No Longer Developing Nations
Trump said India and China cannot take benefits from the WTO.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that India and China are no longer “developing nations” and were “taking advantage” of the tag from the World Trade Organization and asserted that he will not let it happen anymore.
Trump, championing his America First policy, has been a vocal critic of India for levying “tremendously high” duties on U.S. products and has described the country as a “tariff king”.
The U.S. and China are currently engaged in a bruising trade war after Trump imposed punitive tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing retaliated.
Earlier in July, Trump asked the World Trade Organisation to define how it designates developing-country status, a move apparently aimed at singling out countries like China, Turkey and India which are getting lenient treatment under the global trade rules.
In a memorandum, Trump had empowered the U.S. Trade Representative to start taking punitive actions if any advanced economies are inappropriately taking benefits of the WTO loopholes.
Addressing a gathering at Pennsylvania, Trump said India and China the two economic giants from Asia are no longer developing nations and as such they cannot taken the benefit from the WTO.
However, they are taking the advantage of a developing nation tag from the WTO, putting the U.S. to disadvantage, he said.
“They (India and China) were taking advantage of us for years and years,” Trump said.
The Geneva-based WTO is an intergovernmental organisation that regulates international trade between nations.
Under the global trade rules, developing countries claim entitlement to longer time-frame for the imposition of safeguards, generous transition periods, softer tariff cuts, procedural advantages for WTO disputes and the ability to avail themselves of certain export subsidies.
Trump expressed hope that the WTO will treat the U.S. “fairly”.
He said the WTO views certain countries like China and India as “they’re growing”.
“Well, they've grown,” he said and warned that the U.S. will not let such countries to take advantage of the WTO.
“We’re not letting that happen anymore...Everybody is growing but us,” he said.