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  US plans more WTO cases against China   (Reuters)  Updated: 2006-02-24 06:43  
 The United States plans to bring more complaints against China and other 
countries to the World Trade Organization in 2006 than it has in recent years, a 
top U.S. trade official said on Thursday. 
"I think it's fair to say there will be a significant uptick in the coming 
year in the number of cases" the United States files, said Jim Mendenhall, 
general counsel in the U.S. Trade Representative's office, in a speech to 
attorneys who specialize in trade. 
He said the United States was "seriously" considering a case against China's 
barriers to foreign auto parts. Other cases against China are possible in 2006, 
he added. 
 The plan to step up legal action at the WTO comes as the huge U.S. trade 
deficit with China and the rest of the world has fueled demands in Congress that 
the Bush administration more vigorously enforce trade agreements. 
 Lawmakers have introduced various bills aimed at prodding the U.S. Trade 
Representative's office into filing more cases. 
 Mendenhall defended the Bush administration's record, saying the United 
States and European Union had each filed 16 cases since 2001. The relatively 
small number reflected a natural drop-off from the huge volume of cases filed in 
the early years of the WTO, which began in 1995, Mendenhall said. 
 The United States and other trading partners also held off bringing cases 
against China while that country was still in the process of implementing all 
the commitments it made to join the WTO in 2001. 
 But now that process is largely complete, China can expect the United States 
and other countries to demand more forcefully it abide by the rules, he said. 
 "If there was a honeymoon period, then the honeymoon is past," Mendenhall 
said, insisting the Bush administration has dealt appropriately with China up to 
now. 
 The United States is the only country so far to have filed a WTO complaint 
against China and it saw that dispute successfully resolved, he 
said.  
  
  
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