U.S. subsidies for its soybean farmers have given them an unfair competitive advantage in selling to China and strong restrictive measures need to be taken to prevent dumping, Chinese tabloid Global Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.
The widely read state-run Global Times is owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, although its stance does not necessarily equate with Chinese government policy.
Its comments come as U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce tariffs against Chinese imports, targeting the technology and telecommunications sectors, in an attempt to
force changes in Beijing’s intellectual property and investment practices.
“The Trump administration has repeatedly accused China of violating international trade rules and threatened to impose higher tariffs on Chinese products. But the U.S. is actually the breaker of WTO rules, which can be seen clearly by how subsidized U.S. soybeans are dumped on China,” the newspaper said.
“Strong restrictive measures need to be taken against the massive subsidies and dumping of soybeans by some countries on China. This can reduce the adverse effects of imported soybeans on the Chinese market.”
The Global Times also said Chinese authorities had issued a policy document urging efforts to nurture large grain dealers and agricultural firms that were internationally competitive and to make international trade for agricultural goods fairer and more reasonable.
China, the world’s top soybean importer, buys 60 percent of the commodity traded worldwide to crush into soymeal used in animal feed. It mainly imports from Brazil and the United States.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture attache in China on Tuesday forecast that the country will import 100 million tons of soybeans in 2018/2019.
