Unsurprisingly, China has reacted in protest to Tuesday’s separate formal requests by US and European Union trade authorities for World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute settlement consultations with China regarding its export restraints on certain raw materials, including bauxite, magnesite, silicon carbide, and fluorspar (see “Shanxi bauxite mining limited” Online News 23 June 2009; see “China export policy challenged” Online News 11 June 2008).
China's restrictive export policies, such as taxes and reduced quotas, are claimed by US and European Union trade authorities to be part of a “troubling industrial...