China has filed a World Trade Organisation (WTO) complaint against US president Donald Trump's 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods after a trade war between two global powers began this week.
Mr Trump’s 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, which Beijing called a “serious violation” of international trade rules, came into effect on Tuesday. Beijing responded by imposing 15 per cent levies on coal and liquefied natural gas and 10 per cent on oil and agricultural levies.
The WTO on Wednesday said China submitted a request for consultations with the US on the tariffs.
China in its complaint accused the US of making "unfounded and false allegations" about Beijing's role in the flow of fentanyl opioids and their precursor chemicals to the US to justify the tariffs. Beijing added that the measures were "discriminatory and protectionist" which violated the trade rules.
The request for consultations is the start of a dispute process that could lead to a ruling that Mr Trump's duties violated trade rules in the same manner that a 2020 WTO ruling found that his first-term China tariffs broke trade regulations.
But the victory would be unlikely to bring Beijing relief because the WTO's Appellate Body has been largely inoperable for years, as the US has blocked the appointment of appellate judges over what it views as judicial overreach by the body. This has prohibited a final decision in the 2020 case.
Beijing's request for trade consultations came as confusion reigned among shippers and retailers over Mr Trump's closure of the "de minimis" exemption for package imports valued under $800(£640) and widely used by e-commerce firms including Shein, Temu, and Amazon.
A Customs and Border Protection official said all small packages from China and Hong Kong needed to have customs entries on file prior to arrival and there was the potential for some cargo to be sent back without this paperwork.
The US Postal Service said on Wednesday it would again accept parcels from China and Hong Kong, reversing a temporary suspension that threatened to disrupt millions of package imports every day.
"We're all running around like headless chickens at this moment in time, trying to second-guess what's going to happen," said Martin Palmer, co-founder of Hurricane Commerce, a cross-border e-commerce data provider. "And in two weeks' time we may be back to normal."
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent defended Mr Trump's tariff strategy in his first media interview since taking office, saying it was aimed at bringing manufacturing back to the US, including for industries that have largely left US shores.
