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China, US resolve chip dispute
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-09 08:00
The United States and China have resolved a dispute over Chinese market
access for U.S. semiconductors, which led the United States to lodge the first
World Trade Organization complaint against Beijing, the U.S. government said
Thursday.
A statement from the U.S. Trade Representative said the deal "will ensure
full market access ... for U.S. integrated circuits in China," which is a market
worth more than $2 billion to the U.S. industry.
The Bush administration filed the complaint March 18, arguing a 17 percent
value-added tax on integrated circuits constituted an unfair trade barrier.
The full force of the deal will take effect by April 1, 2005, when China
stops providing tax refunds to domestic producers currently getting the rebate,
USTR said.
March's complaint was the first filed against China since the country joined
the WTO in December 2001.
In April, China and the United States sorted out another
semiconductor-related trade dispute, which related to a proprietary security
technology that China had planned to impose on wireless networking chips.
That dispute was resolved only after the U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick met directly with China Vice Premier Wu Yi.
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