Donald Trump: We have been RIPPED OFF by China
Kevin Hassett Chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers said China had “misbehaved” since becoming a member of the WTO and praised Mr Trump’s tough stance on the nation stating “it is clearly working”.
Mr Hassett told the BBC: "We never really envisioned that a country would enter the WTO and then behave the way that China has. It's a new thing for the WTO to have a member that is misbehaving so much."
The two economic powerhouses have been locked in battle resulting in Washington imposing tariffs on £195bn ($250bn) worth of Chinese goods and Beijing retaliating with £85bn ($110bn) of duties on US goods.
Mr Trumps economic aide explored the best options to deal with the ongoing dispute and argued whether this can be achieved through a bilateral negotiation, by reform of the WTO or even, by removing China from the WTO.
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The last of those is a not official US policy. It was the final, least preferred, of three options that Mr Hassett listed and he expressed it as a question: "Should we pursue evicting China from the WTO?"
Today the US trade representative’s office released a report into the trade war and said China has failed to alter its "unfair" practices.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement: “This update shows that China has not fundamentally altered its unfair, unreasonable, and market-distorting practices.”
US Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday the US would not back down from the trade dispute, and might even double tariffs, unless Beijing bowed to US demands.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had already offered a detailed response to Washington’s complaints in a government white paper issued in September and acknowledged its “normal” for there to be disagreements.
Mr Shuang said: ”I recommend the US side read it in detail.”
He added: “It's normal for there to be friction in economics and trade. What's key is to have dialogue and consultations on the basis of mutual respect, equality and sincerity.”
The WTO has previously warned Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping their actions could cause “serious harm” to the world economy and affect millions of jobs.
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WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, said: “Without action to ease tensions and recommit to cooperation in trade, we could see serious harm done to the multilateral trading system.
“The long-term economic consequences of this could be severe. These effects would cause significant disruptions for workers, firms and communities as they adjust to this new reality.
“Potentially, millions of workers would need to find new jobs; firms would be looking for new products and markets; and communities for new sources of growth.”
The two world leaders are set to meet at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires at the end of November.