China moves to join Brazil’s WTO fight over Trump’s forced labour tariffs

China has asked to join World Trade Organization consultations that Brazil opened against US tariffs of up to 37.5 per cent.

Beijing filed the request in Geneva on Monday, telling the trade body it held a substantial commercial interest in the case.

The move was first reported by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo and independently confirmed to the South China Morning Post by a Brazilian government source.

In the request, China said Washington could apply comparable measures to Chinese goods, and that such measures would affect all Chinese exports to the American market, subject to specific exemptions.

It said the additional duties altered the conditions of competition for Chinese products sold in the United States. The document had not yet appeared in the WTO’s public records on Monday.

The grounds Beijing set out concern its own exports rather than the treatment of Brazilian goods. China has challenged Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 at the WTO since 2018. It argues the statute lets Washington determine violations and impose penalties without multilateral authorisation.