On April 17th, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced the initiation of a Section 301 investigation targeting China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries. China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes this.
The US application is full of false accusations, misinterpreting normal trade and investment activities as damaging US national security and corporate interests, and blaming China for its own industrial problems. This lacks factual basis and is contrary to economic common sense. Many US research reports show that the US shipbuilding industry lost its competitive advantage many years ago due to excessive protection. The US provides discriminatory subsidies worth tens of billions of dollars to its own industries, but blames China for adopting so-called "non-market practices." In fact, the development of China's industries is the result of technological innovation and active participation in market competition. The US accusations are completely unfounded.
The previous US administration initiated a Section 301 investigation against China and imposed tariffs on China, which was ruled by the WTO to be a violation of WTO rules and was opposed by many WTO members. The US launching a new Section 301 investigation based on domestic political needs is repeating the same mistake.
We urge the US to respect facts and multilateral rules, immediately stop its wrong practices, and return to the rules-based multilateral trade system. China will closely monitor the progress of the investigation and take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its own rights and interests.