Industrial subsidies can take on many forms ranging from cheap or free electricity given to factories by local governments, to tax credits and access to cheap capital.
U.S., European and Japanese trade negotiators are working to conclude a partial agreement that is aimed at curbing the market-distorting behavior of China’s state-owned enterprises.
The trilateral effort is part of an effort to modernize global trade rules that the U.S. and others claim have failed to address China’s rise as a global economic power.
If the talks advance, people close to the discussions say, they would become the most significant attempt to rewrite WTO rules since the ultimately unsuccessful Doha Round of trade negotiations was launched in 2001.
Bloomberg News.