A World Trade Organization panel ruled Tuesday that Trump administration tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are illegal, vindicating Beijing even if the United States has all but incapacitated the WTO’s ability to hand down a final, binding verdict, reports the AP.
In its decision, the WTO’s dispute settlement body ruled against the U.S. government’s argument that China has wrongly engaged in practices harmful to U.S. interests on issues including intellectual property theft and technology transfer.
The U.S. can appeal the decision, but the WTO’s appeals court is currently no longer functioning — largely because of Washington’s single-handed refusal to accept new members for it.
The WTO panel ruled that the U.S. measures violated longstanding international trade rules because they only applied to products from China.
