China seeks WTO backing for sanctions on U.S. over dumping duties

By Tom Miles

GENEVA (Reuters) - China will ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) next week for permission to impose sanctions on the United States, for Washington's non-compliance with a ruling in a dispute over U.S. dumping duties, a meeting agenda showed on Tuesday.

The request is likely to lead to years of legal wrangling over the case for sanctions and the amount.

China initiated the dispute in 2013, complaining about U.S. dumping duties on several industries including machinery and electronics, light industry, metals and minerals, with an annual export value of up to $8.4 billion.

It won a WTO ruling in 2016, which was confirmed by an appeal last year.

The case concerned the U.S. Commerce Department's way of calculating the amount of "dumping" - Chinese exports that are priced to undercut American-made goods on the U.S. market.

The U.S. calculation method, known as "zeroing", tended to increase the level of U.S. anti-dumping duties on foreign producers and was repeatedly ruled to be illegal in a series of trade disputes brought to the WTO.

The string of U.S. defeats fuelled U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign to reform the WTO. Trump said last month the United States could withdraw from the WTO if "they don't shape up".

China told the WTO last month that the deadline for the United States to comply with the ruling expired on Aug. 22.

The WTO published an agenda on Tuesday for a meeting of its dispute settlement body on Sept. 21, showing China planned to take the legal step of asking for authorisation for sanctions.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by John Stonestreet and Mark Potter)