On February 1, america authorities introduced a brand new 10 p.c tariff on Chinese language imports below the pretext of combatting the proliferation of the opioid fentanyl. The next day, the spokesperson of the Chinese language International Ministry said that China firmly deplored and opposed this transfer and would take mandatory countermeasures to defend its official rights and pursuits.
Certainly, a brand new tariff is counterproductive not solely in terms of efforts to rein within the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl but additionally for bilateral commerce relations.
The US is likely one of the largest customers of fentanyl-based medicine on the earth and lately, their abuse has exacerbated drug habit and prompted many deaths. The disaster has its roots in longstanding opioid use patterns within the nation, the profit-driven nature of the US pharmaceutical trade, insufficient public consciousness and ineffective social governance.
China has a few of the world’s hardest counternarcotics insurance policies and legal guidelines. Within the spirit of humanity and goodwill, China has given assist to the US’s response to this challenge. On the US’s request, China introduced again in 2019 the choice to formally schedule fentanyl-related substances as a category. China has carried out counternarcotics cooperation with the US aspect in such fields because the scheduling of drug-related substances, intelligence sharing, and cooperation on particular person circumstances.
But, the US nonetheless insists on dramatising the difficulty and accuses China of driving its fentanyl disaster. However scapegoating different international locations for a home disaster won’t make the issue disappear; tariffs definitely won’t.
The unilateral sanctions imposed by the US threat weakening its anti-drug cooperation with China and may power fentanyl precursor transactions to be carried out on the black market or by way of third international locations, making regulation enforcement much more tough.
Moreover, these unilateral sanctions imposed violate the fundamental rules of the World Commerce Group (WTO), of which each China and the US are members. In response to the 1947 Basic Settlement on Tariffs and Commerce (GATT) – the precursor to the WHO – commerce shall be carried out in a non-discriminatory method.
Nevertheless, the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US on particular international locations or enterprises primarily represent discriminatory remedy. This undermines honest competitors amongst WTO members and poses a possible menace to multilateral commerce guidelines.
Moreover, the US practices violate the precept of nationwide remedy specified by Article III of GATT. The article requires that imported merchandise should not be accorded unfavourable remedy primarily based on their origin after getting into the territory of a WTO member. The sanctions the US imposed could straight limit the import of authorized medicine or their precursor chemical compounds, leading to discrimination towards imported items from China.
The US could search to justify its unilateral tariffs by citing threats to public well being or nationwide safety, which below GATT can be utilized to justify tariffs. However to invoke GATT’s Article XX (“Basic Exceptions”) or Article XXI (“Safety Exceptions”), the US must show not solely the relevance and necessity of imposing tariffs to guard public well being or nationwide safety, but additionally the absence of different much less trade-distorting and equally efficient means. Components such because the complexity of the fentanyl disaster and home demand make it tough for the exceptions to be utilized.
The frequent use of unilateral sanctions by the US not solely violates the core guidelines of the WTO but additionally disrupts the worldwide commerce order and multilateral cooperation. Particularly, abusing exception clauses could immediate different international locations to query the equity and efficacy of WTO guidelines. The potential retaliation in response to US tariffs from different WTO members might result in a world commerce battle and encourage the pattern in the direction of fragmentation of the worldwide buying and selling system.
In the long term, the US sanctions will backfire at residence as properly. Greater tariffs will end in elevated costs for imported items, rising the burden on American customers and undercutting the competitiveness of US corporations globally.
The US must view and resolve its personal fentanyl challenge in an goal and rational means as a substitute of threatening different international locations with arbitrary tariff hikes. Decreasing home demand for medicine and enhancing regulation enforcement cooperation may be efficient options to the fentanyl disaster.
Commerce and tariff wars don’t have any winners. Pressuring or threatening China is just not the appropriate solution to have interaction, as my nation will firmly defend its official rights and pursuits.
Conserving enterprise ties between China and the US sturdy serves the basic pursuits of each international locations and each peoples, and advantages international financial progress. China hopes the US will work with it to handle issues by way of equal-footed session, preserve the hard-won constructive dynamics in counternarcotics cooperation, and collectively promote the regular, sound and sustainable progress of bilateral commerce and financial ties.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
