China will no longer seek the special treatment reserved for developing nations at the World Trade Organization (WTO), removing a long-standing flashpoint with the United States in global trade talks, Bloomberg reported.
Premier Li Qiang announced the policy shift on Tuesday in New York during a meeting on global development hosted by China, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency and a statement by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on X. Li is attending the United Nations General Assembly this week.
“This is a culmination of many years of hard work and I want to applaud China’s leadership on this issue!” Okonjo-Iweala wrote.
Under WTO rules, developing nation status is self-declared and comes with advantages such as extended timeframes for implementing trade commitments. The U.S. has long criticized China’s claim to that designation, arguing that the world’s second-largest economy should not receive preferential treatment. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump said “virtually every current economic indicator belies China’s claim” to developing status.
By renouncing “new special and differential” treatment in current and future negotiations, China may help clear a path toward long-stalled reforms at the WTO. The move also comes at a sensitive moment in U.S.-China relations, with both countries seeking to manage trade frictions while deepening engagement on global economic governance.
