Written by Staff Writer
Thomas Wright, CNN
The US Department of Commerce has added over a dozen Chinese firms to a list of companies that it says engage in unfair trade practices.
Washington said the newly added firms are in industries ranging from metals to furniture, accounting for 90% of the US trade deficit with China.
The Chinese enterprises include some of the world’s biggest appliance makers, banks and electric car manufacturers. The US trade deficit with China is the world’s largest.
The companies accused of selling their products in the US at unfairly low prices or using unfair trade practices include Tianli Group, China’s second-largest appliance maker, Hunan Huatai Bank and electric car company BYD Co.
“China continues to suppress consumer choice, force technology transfers, and misuse sensitive intellectual property under the guise of free trade,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
He added that the US will continue to encourage Chinese firms to abide by international trade rules and market competition.
“At the same time, however, we will not hesitate to pursue all available legal remedies when the law is violated,” Ross said.
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US Sen. Chris Coons said in a statement that many of the companies placed on the list are important US allies, and pledged to continue to work with Congress “to keep our businesses and consumers safe, and to hold China accountable for bad behavior in the trade and intellectual property arena.”
The full list of companies now on the list includes: Hengli Railway Industry, Shenzhen Jinbei Digital, Chongqing Wanshengbao Haier Electric Vehicle, and Wuxi Packaging Material Industry.
Washington announced in January that it was placing 16 Chinese companies on its “special 301 investigation list” that it says engage in unfair trade practices.
It also published a second list of industries in which it accused China of using discriminatory trade practices against US businesses.
The steel industry and the glass industry made up two-thirds of the industries targeted in the second list.