China welcomes WTO ruling against Türkiye's vehicle restrictions: commerce ministry

 China welcomes a ruling made by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which found Türkiye's restrictive measures on electric and certain other types of vehicles originating from China violate global trade rules, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

The WTO circulated the panel report in the case brought by China on Tuesday, which supported China's claims and ruled that Türkiye's measures contravened WTO rules, an official from the ministry's department of treaty and law said in response to a media query.

Since 2023, Türkiye has had in place restrictive measures, including additional tariffs and import licensing requirements, on Chinese electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and other vehicles. These measures violate WTO rules including bound tariffs, national treatment and most-favored-nation treatment, and have severely harmed China's legitimate trade interests and bilateral economic and trade relations, the official added.

China urges Türkiye to respect the WTO panel ruling, take concrete actions and rectify its non-compliant measures as soon as possible, according to the official.

Stressing that China firmly pursues a win-win strategy of opening-up and steadfastly upholds the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, the official said China stands ready to work with all parties to enhance the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation in new-energy vehicles and other fields, on the basis of compliance with multilateral trade rules, to achieve common development. ■