The Trump administration has lambasted China’s bid for recognition as a market economy in the World Trade Organization, citing decades of legal precedent and what it sees as signs that China is moving in the opposite direction under Xi Jinping.
The US move to oppose China’s longstanding efforts to be recognised as a market economy in the WTO came in a legal submission filed last week and due to be released publicly on Thursday in a case brought by Beijing against the EU.
It comes as the Trump administration is starting to ratchet up trade pressure on Beijing and as Washington faces growing isolation internationally over what critics fear is a populism-fuelled attack on the global trading system.
