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China gives up developing-country
treatment in bid to boost WTO in face of Trump tariffs
[September 24, 2025]
BEIJING (AP) — China has said it would no longer seek the special
treatment given to developing countries in World Trade Organization
agreements — a change long demanded by the United States.
Commerce Ministry officials said Wednesday the move was an attempt to
boost the global trading system at a time when it is under threat from
tariff wars and protectionist moves by individual countries to restrict
imports. |
Chinese Premier Li Qiang, right, shakes hands with Director-General of
the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in Tianjin, ahead of
the annual World Economic Forum New Champions meeting Monday, June 26,
2023. (Wang Zhao/Pool Photo via AP, Filer) |
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They did not mention the United States by name or President
Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs on many other countries
this year, including China.
The U.S. has long argued China should give up the
developing-country status because it is the world’s
second-largest economy. The advantages of that designation at
the WTO include lower requirements to open their markets to
imports and longer transition periods to implement such
market-opening steps.
The WTO provides a forum for global trade talks and enforces
agreements but has become less effective, prompting calls for
reform.
The head of the Geneva-based organization described the Chinese
move as “major news key to WTO reform” and applauded and thanked
the country's leaders in a post on X.
“This is a culmination of many years of hard work,” wrote Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO director-general.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced the change in a speech in New
York on Tuesday to a China-organized development forum at the
annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.
China is a middle-income country, and the Commerce Ministry
officials emphasized that it remains part of the developing
world.
Increasingly, though, it has become a source of loans and
technical assistance to other countries seeking to build roads,
railways, dams and other major projects, often undertaken by
major Chinese state-owned companies.
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