The United States and China are in for a dangerous game of tariff tit-for-tat... which has now spilled over into the World Trade Organization.
With neither side apparently willing to back down,... it looks like trade tensions between the two world superpowers are going to rise even further.
Kim Mok-yeon has more.
At a meeting of WTO members on Wednesday, the United States said China's membership should be reconsidered, claiming Beijing has been using its position within the WTO to take advantage of other nations.
Washington's ambassador to the WTO, Dennis Shea, accused China of failing to fully embrace the open, market-oriented policies on which the organization is founded, stressing that this should be addressed for the WTO to remain relevant to the international trading system.
Firing back,... China defended its record, pointing out how it has significantly lowered import tariffs.
China's Vice Commerce Minister then took indirect aim at the Trump administration,... urging the WTO to stand up to protectionism.

"The multilateral trading system is now confronted with severe challenges. We would like to call all WTO members to resolutely defend the fundamental principles and the core values of the multilateral trading system…….. and to firmly stand up to trade bullying, protectionism and unilateralism."

The latest standoff came shortly after the Trump administration raised the stakes in its trade dispute with Beijing on Wednesday, threatening ten percent tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese goods in response to China's imposition of tit-for-tat tariffs of 25 percent on 34 billion dollar's worth of U.S. exports last Friday.
Those tariffs came a matter of hours after President Trump announced the U.S. was imposing its first round of 25 percent tariffs on 34 billion dollars of Chinese imports.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.