China moves to join Brazil’s WTO fight over Trump’s forced labour tariffs

China has requested to join Brazil's WTO dispute over US tariffs of up to 37.5 percent, citing a significant commercial interest in the case. Beijing filed the request in Geneva on Monday, informing the trade body of its substantial commercial interest in the matter. China claims that the additional duties could affect all its exports to the US market, subject to specific exemptions.

The move comes as part of China's ongoing challenge to Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, which allows Washington to determine violations and impose penalties without multilateral authorization. China has been challenging the statute since 2018. The forced labour investigation that formed part of the Brazilian tariff covered 60 economies, including mainland China.

Beijing had previously raised concerns about the unilateral, arbitrary, and discriminatory nature of the investigation and noted that the US has never ratified the Forced Labour Convention of 1930. The Chinese government made representations to Washington while the two sides were conducting trade talks in Paris. The dispute over the tariffs remains largely political until the WTO appellate body is restored, as the organization cannot penalize the US over the tariffs due to the lack of a quorum.