China said Friday it would change its restrictive policy on certain steel imports from the United States after the World Trade Organization declared that China was in breach of international trade rules.
After a meeting of the world trade arbiter's dispute settlement body in Geneva, China said that although it "may not agree" with all the WTO's findings, it would respect them and "work hard to implement" them.
The Chinese statement follows a meeting on Oct. 18 of the WTO's appellate body which found that Chinese duties on specialist high-value magnetic U.S. rolled steel were illegal, as the U.S. had complained.
The WTO had ruled on June 15 that China breached trade rules by not providing sufficient evidence for imposing the duties, but that decision was appealed by Beijing five days later.
The dispute dates back to September 2010 when Washington accused China of breaching trade rules by not providing sufficient evidence that anti-dumping duties were needed on U.S. imports of electrical steel used in the power sector.
After China's announcement at the WTO, it must soon indicate to the body's other member nations how it intends to bring its legislation in line with WTO rules.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012
