China's Clothing Industry Is Facing Severe Trade Restrictions.

In January 31, 2014, the WTO said in the latest overview of the development of international trade environment that from October 2012 to November 2013, the total number of new trade restrictive measures amounted to 407, compared with 308 in the same period a year ago. The new restrictive measures affected 1.3% of the total volume of Global trade in goods, about 240 billion dollars, and trade facilitation measures from 162 to 107 during the same period.

As far as China is concerned, customs statistics show that in 2013, China's total value of imports and exports reached US $4 trillion and 160 billion, ranking first in the world's largest trade in goods. However, the number of trade restrictive measures faced by China's export products is high, and the situation of product restriction is still grim. According to statistics, in 2013, China's export products suffered 92 kinds of trade relief surveys, and the United States launched 19 "337 surveys" involving Chinese products. Some countries have gradually increased import tariffs or implemented import quotas, and Chinese products have become the biggest victims of these restrictive measures.

The implementation of these restrictive measures is mainly in developed countries and emerging economies. Take trade relief survey as an example, in 2013, the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia and other developed economies launched 31 trade relief surveys to China, accounting for 34%. Trade frictions between emerging industrial countries and developing countries such as Brazil, India, Mexico and Argentina were also increasing. 61 trade relief surveys started in China, accounting for 66%, among which Brazil launched the largest number of trade relief surveys to China, and the highest amount of India involved was 800 million dollars. Metals, minerals, light industry, chemical industry and electromechanical industry accounted for 85% of the total number of industries surveyed by foreign trade remedies. In the US "337 survey", China's electromechanical products have become the focus of the investigation, accounting for more than 70% of the cases involving Chinese products.

Increasing the spread of restricted tariff practices

As a traditional trade restrictive means, import tariff measures are still playing an important role. Some countries, especially developing countries, have increased tariffs on imported goods within the permitted scope of the WTO rules.

Since 2010, many developing countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, India, South Africa and Columbia have taken measures to improve import tariffs, resulting in serious loss of Chinese export products. In January 2013, Columbia decided to Spin product clothing and shoes The ad valorem tax on import duties of products is reduced from 15% to 10%, while the additional tariff of 5 US dollars per kilogram or double for related products is increased by 30%. One of the characteristics of these tax raising measures is the large tax raising rate, which is higher than the export profits of Chinese enterprises, so that Chinese products lose their competitive edge.

The number of trade remedy measures is high.

In 2013, China's export products suffered 71 anti-dumping cases, an increase of 14 compared with the same period last year, 14 cases of countervailing cases, an increase of 5 compared with the same period last year, and 7 safeguard measures, a decrease of 2 from the same period last year. The non market economy status and the practice of substituting countries in Europe and the United States make China respondent enterprises at a disadvantage and increase the burden of litigation.

In October 30, 2013, China put forward a group of experts' consultation procedures with the European Union under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to implement the implementation of WTO dispute cases. In December 3, 2013, China made a mistake in the 13 anti-dumping measures taken by the United States on China's oil well pipes and other products, and proposed to consult with the United States under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and formally launch the WTO dispute settlement process. Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that in the United States' anti-dumping investigations and reexamination, there were a series of inconsistent practices with the WTO rules, such as improper application of the target dumping method, refusal of giving enterprises separate tax rates, improper application of unfavorable facts, and so on.

Customs clearance measures and domestic taxes and fees are opaque.

In 2013, the restrictive measures in some countries were increased, customs enforcement was arbitrary, customs clearance measures were not standardized, lack of transparency, or unreasonable domestic taxes and charges were imposed on imported goods, thus impeding the normal circulation of trade. If the Ministry of finance of the Brazil issued the regulation in May 2013, the importers could prove that the import goods could not be imported by the customs, but not the original bill of lading. As in October 2012, Brazil frequently promulgated the policy of adjusting the auto industry product tax (IPI), and exempted 30% of the industrial products tax to meet the requirements of localization rate and so on, resulting in discriminatory treatment of domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers and a significant impact on Trade and investment.

From the second half of 2012, Russia began collecting vehicle recycling fees for imported cars according to their engine power or tonnage, while Russian cars produced locally did not have to pay the cost. In October 2013, after the relevant members asked WTO to set up an expert group to hear the Russian car back charging policy, the Russian legislature took action to amend the relevant policies and abolished discriminatory provisions.

TBT and SPS measures are still outstanding.

In 2013, China received 1223 notifications from the EU's non food quick warning system, an increase of 9.4% over the previous year, accounting for 61.4% of the total number of notifications. In 2013, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 178 Chinese products, accounting for 62.7% of the total global recall of the United States, an increase of 2.3% over the same period last year.

According to the data released by the AQSIQ in July 2013, through the survey results of 3152 export enterprises randomly selected from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, 23.9% of the export enterprises were affected by technical barriers to trade, and foreign technical trade measures resulted in a direct loss of 68 billion 500 million US dollars in 2012 and an additional cost of 28 billion 20 million US dollars.

Abuse of intellectual property protection system

With the upgrading of domestic industrial structure and R & D capability, more and more Chinese enterprises' competitive advantages begin to escalate from price advantage to technological advantage, and even become a new industry leader in some areas. The number and level of competition with developed countries are increasing, threatening the monopoly profits and status of the leading industry in the world.

Taking the US "337 survey" as an example, it has become an increasingly important new trade policy tool and has become an important means for us enterprises to fight against the main competitors of the industry. According to statistics, since 2009, China's exports to the United States have become the main target of the "337 survey" in the United States, and the proportion of cases registered annually is over 40%. However, the intellectual property protection system in some countries is not consistent with the content of WTO's agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS). The disunity of technical problems may lead to abuse of intellectual property protection measures.

　　 Discriminatory tariff differences in regional trade agreements

As the Doha round of talks has been stagnant for many years, countries have turned to bilateral and regional trade agreements negotiations. The latest WTO statistics show that as of the end of November 2013, there are still 250 effective regional trade agreements. The negotiations on regional trade and investment agreements, led by the US and Europe, the trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the trans the Atlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP), are aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of member states in the global economy.

Regional trade agreements can promote regional trade facilitation by reducing regional tariffs and excluding non-tariff trade barriers. However, such preferential trade arrangements objectively result in price inferiority of products outside the region, forming a discriminatory tariff gap and impeding trade between non member countries and FTA members.

The EU website reported on July 1, 2013 that EU and South Korea's FTA agreements entered into force two years ago, and the EU's export to South Korea has achieved strong growth. In 2012, the EU's exports to the Republic of Korea amounted to 37 billion 800 million euros, an increase of 16.2% over the same period last year, and the EU's imports from Korea amounted to 37 billion 900 million euros, an increase of 4.7% over the same period last year. Due to the conclusion of the EU and South Korea free trade area, the export volume of Chinese laver to the EU has plummeted, and the market share has been replaced by Korean products.

　　 Restrictive measures, nominal "national security"

In recent years, the conduct of trade protection under the name of "National Security Review" has become more and more popular. "Threatening national security" has become a common excuse for restricting foreign products or preventing foreign enterprises from investing. In the second half of 2012, the US Congress issued a report accusing China HUAWEI and ZTE of threatening national communications security in the United States, urging us companies to avoid cooperation with them, and adopting the comprehensive fiscal appropriation act of 2013, limiting the purchase of the information technology system of Chinese enterprises by some US government departments. In addition, according to media reports, in November 2013, the United States expressed concern about the so-called "national security" problem brought by Korean operators in purchasing HUAWEI equipment. According to the data released by the US Foreign Investment Commission (CFIUS) in December 2013, a total of 23 Chinese companies' investment in the US were examined by the US government in 2012, ranking first among countries. In 2013, a Shanghai enterprise also encountered a "national security permit" review when providing container cranes for India port.