UNITED STATES – TARIFF MEASURES ON CERTAIN GOODS FROM CHINA COMMUNICATION FROM CHINA
Document: COMMUNICATION FROM
Date: 27 April 2018
Document codes: WT/DS543/3
Complainant: China
Respondent: U.S.
Third parties: Australia, Brazil, Canada, EU, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine
Dispute stage: Panel
Agreements cited: Art. I:1, II:1(a), II:1(b)  GATT 1994Art. 23.1, 23.2  Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU)

UNITED STATES – TARIFF MEASURES ON CERTAIN GOODS FROM CHINA
COMMUNICATION FROM CHINA
The following communication, dated 25 April 2018, was received from the delegation of China and
is circulated to the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), at the request of this delegation.

We confirm the receipt of your letter dated 13 April 2018. My authorities have instructed me to
provide you with China 's considerations with respect to your letter concerning United States –
Tariff Measures on Certain Goods from China (DS543) consultations as follows:

Firstly, as to the measures at issue, China identified explicitly the measures at issue and indicated
clearly the legal basis for the complaint in the DS543 consultations request dated 4 April 2018,
which is in conformity with the requirements provided in the Understanding on Rules and
Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) . Therefore, China cannot agree with the
view that "China's [] letter does not meet the requ irements of Article 4 of the DSU " in your
13 April letter.

Secondly, your 13 April letter expressed the willingness to enter into consultations with China with
respect to the United States 's concern on China 's relevant policies addressed in the Section 30 1
investigation as well as C hina's Public Notice on imposing additional tariffs on certain products
originating from the United States. I regret to inform you that such request obviously exceeds the
scope of China's consultations request dated 4 April 2018.

In addition, China is confused by the logic taken by the United States. On the one hand, the United
States emphasizes that the policies addressed in the Section 301 investigation do not appear to
implicate WTO obligations except for the measures under China – Certain Measures Concerning the
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (DS542), on the other hand, your 13 April letter requests
to discuss Chin a's policies addressed in the Section 301 investigation, which appears that the
United States also recognizes the policies addressed in Section 301 investigation do implicate the
WTO rules.

China underlines that, in any event, the consultations between our two sides will be conducted in
accordance with Article 4 of the DSU and will only cover the meas ures at issue identified explicitly
in the DS543 consultations request (WT/DS543/1), including the list of imported products
originating from China for add itional tariffs dated 3 April, the Section 301 investigation report
dated 22 March, etc.

In this res pect, if the United States agrees with China 's views on the scope of consultations
for DS543, China is willing to , based on this agreement, schedul e a mutually convenient date
for consultations.