Hong Kong says Washington misinterpreted World Trade Organisation rules when criticising city in new report
- Government raises concerns with United States over National Trade Estimate report
Hong Kong has raised concerns with Washington over what it called an inaccurate trade report, in which the United States accused the city of failing to fulfil its obligations to the World Trade Organisation.
Hong Kong, a founding member of the WTO, said the US 2019 National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, released last week, had based its comments on a mistaken interpretation of a WTO requirement that asks members to submit reports on the collection of customs duties.
An annual report published by the Office of the US Trade Representative to look at the status of foreign trade and investment barriers to American exports around the world, the NTE was the latest in a series of papers published in recent months by Washington that have been critical of Hong Kong.
Late last month, the US State Department also raised concerns over Hong Kong’s diminished autonomy and made note of “accelerating negative trends” in connection to what it saw as increased intervention by Beijing in the running of Hong Kong.
Despite those concerns, the report said the US would continue to treat Hong Kong separately from the rest of China as a special trading partner.
This year’s NTE report contained some 540 pages, covering 65 countries and customs administrations.
