U.S. Treasury official slams China’s ‘non-market behavior’

(Reuters, Washington, 21 February 2018) The U.S. Treasury’s top diplomat ramped up his criticisms of China’s economic policies on Wednesday, accusing Beijing of “patently non-market behavior” and saying that the United States needed stronger responses to counter it. He said market-oriented, democratic governments were awakening to the challenges posed by China’s economic system, including from its state-owned banks and export credit agencies. And he reiterated his view that China had stopped liberalizing its economy and was actually reversing these trends. China says that its state-owned enterprises operate on free-market principles and is battling within the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system to be recognized as a “market economy” — a designation that would weaken U.S. and EU trade defenses. [and their own ECA trade subsidies?]