U.S. and China trade disputes brought to WTO

Trade tensions flared between the U.S. and China on Friday, as each brought disputes against the other at the World Trade Organization.

China requested consultations with the U.S. -- the first stage in launching a WTO dispute -- over Washington’s anti-dumping measures on paper imports from China, the WTO said.

It is only China’s second trade dispute against Washington, and the first it has brought alone, after a case in 2002 in which it joined the European Union and other countries to challenge U.S. steel import restrictions.

The Chinese mission to the WTO said the dispute concerned the determination of preliminary anti-dumping and countervailing duties made by the U.S. on imports of coated free sheet paper from China.

A terse statement from the U.S. Trade Representative said every WTO member had the right to seek consultations or launch a dispute and that was how mature trading partners resolved disagreements.

The dispute brought by the U.S. asked the WTO to set up a panel to examine China’s measures to protect and enforce intellectual property rights.