China may impose $3.58bn in annual trade sanctions on US: WTO panel

• China could slap compensatory sanctions on US imports worth $3.579 billion annually for the US failure to remove anti-dumping duties,
• China may now ask the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body for a green light to impose the retaliatory tariffs on imported US goods.

ZURICH: A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel said on Friday that China could slap compensatory sanctions on US imports worth $3.579 billion annually for the US failure to remove anti-dumping duties, a figure that was roughly half what China had sought.

The decision came as the world's two biggest economies try to clinch Phase 1 of a trade deal. President Donald Trump and US negotiators are "very optimistic" about concluding it, White House adviser Larry Kudlow said.

In the WTO ruling, a three-member arbitration panel said Chinese exporters suffered impairment to trade valued at $3.579 billion annually. China may now ask the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body for a green light to impose the retaliatory tariffs on imported US goods valued up to that amount each year.