US May File WTO Case Vs China Over Counterfeits
Nidhi Sharma - All Headline News Staff Writer Shanghai, China (AHN) - The United States plans to file a World Trade Organization case against China over widespread counterfeiting in the country, but prefers to resolve such issues directly with Beijing. Franklin Lavin, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, said the United States plans to cooperate with China to help it tackle intellectual property theft. "If there are cases where that's not successful, then the WTO is a mechanism we can pursue," Reuters news agency quotes Lavin as saying. "We are looking at possible WTO cases...Our attorneys are increasingly convinced that China is in violation, but we've got to have an evidentiary basis that ensures we're going to win the case." The United States is of the opinion that China could open the door to billions of dollars of increased exports from US through tougher enforcement of laws on piracy and counterfeiting, though it could cost the businesses from Washington an estimated $250 billion annually. The United States could file two more cases against China at the WTO by early 2007 if the country fails to respond to Washington's concerns about piracy and honor commitments to open up its banking and insurance sectors. If China takes any action on piracy, it could help reduce tension over the size of the US trade gap with China, which reached $202 billion in 2005, Lavin added.
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