WASHINGTON – The United States has accused China of flouting World Trade Organisation rules by failing to notify the body of nearly 200 government subsidy programmes. US trade representative Ron Kirk also said India had failed to notify 50 such programmes, and the US had taken the unusual step of presenting its “voluminous information” on both countries’ programmes to the WTO.
“Every member of the WTO is required to come clean on its subsidy programmes on a regular basis . . . Because China and India have failed to meet their respective obligations, we had to act,” Mr Kirk said. China had not notified the WTO of such programmes for more than five years and India, in its first filing in almost 10 years, made known only three of the many the US knows to exist, he said. – (Reuters)