U.S. Requests to Join WTO Consultations Amid Increasingly Hostile Relations between China and the EU

U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Jose Fernandez, visited Vilnius, Lithuania (above) in early February to reinforce diplomatic ties (Wikimedia Commons)

Last week, the United States requested to join WTO Consultations between China and the EU on China’s coercive trade policies with Lithuania. The United States has also shown support through a memorandum of understanding and a recent visit by a government official to the Baltic country.

Authorities in the EU launched a case against China in regards to their confrontational trading practices with Lithuania. The relations between China and Lithuania deteriorated when Lithuania decided to allow Taiwan to establish its embassy under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei,” which many countries comply with in order to avoid displeasing the Chinese government. Shipments from Lithuania to China dropped 91% from November to December-- around the same time as the Taiwanese embassy’s establishment. 

China responded to Lithuania’s actions by halting the imports of Lithuanian beef and dairy products on February 9, along with a shipment of rum originally headed for the mainland (which Taiwan offered to purchase instead). China claims that Lithuania failed “to provide technical details under which such goods are permitted to enter the Chinese market.” Sources within the Lithuanian government forcibly denied these claims, maintaining that China is acting in a coercive manner. China has also pulled its ambassador from Vilnius and ordered the Lithuanian Ambassador to China to leave Beijing.

The United States has requested a seat at the WTO negotiation table along with Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Taiwan in support of the EU, despite China’s ability to block non-EU countries from participating in consultations. U.S. Trade Representative Adam Hodge said that the United States will continue talks with Lithuania and other EU allies to “push back on the PRC’s coercive economic and diplomatic behavior,” in a statement made in late January. 

In another supportive gesture, the U.S. government sent Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez to Vilnius, Lithuania in early February to discuss the implementation of a recently signed $600 million memorandum of understanding. The U.S. government signed this memorandum with Lithuania for the purpose of catalyzing economic prosperity and innovation between the two countries late last year. 

Lithuania’s economic involvement with China also attracts attention from the United States as a topic of discussion, for the United States aimed to reiterate its “continuing strong support for Lithuania in the face of political pressure and economic coercion from the People’s Republic of China,” as mentioned in a statement from the Department of State’s website. These comments also come at a time when the Sino-American relationship has grown fragile due to the absence of U.S. officials present at the Beijing Winter Olympics, a diplomatic boycott protesting the ongoing human rights abuses taking place in the Western province of Xinjiang, according to the White House press secretary Jen Psaski.