On September 23, 2025, China's State Council Prime Minister Li Jian directly threw a pivotal message at the United Nations headquarters in New York at the High-Level Conference on Global Development Initiative during the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations. China, as a developing country, will not need any new special and differential treatment in the current and future negotiations of the World Trade Organization.
Let's talk about what this special and differential treatment is first. From the very beginning, the World Trade Organization has given the green light to developing countries, such as extending the time for implementing the agreement and providing technical assistance, so that these countries can slowly integrate into the global trading system. After China officially joined WTO on December 11th, 2001, it also enjoyed these conveniences. At that time, China's economy was still small and its per capita income was low. Relying on these concessions, it gradually opened the market door, exported from textiles to electronic products, and slowly climbed to the position of the second largest economy in the world. But in recent years, the United States has taken the lead in shouting, saying that China's GDP is so large that it is inappropriate to take advantage of developing countries, and it is necessary to change the rules. In July 2019, US President Trump signed a memorandum, directly naming the identification standards of developing countries that want to reform the WTO, pointing the finger at China. In the following years, this matter became a minefield of Sino-US trade friction. The United States increased tariffs, China fought back, and the global supply chain was in chaos.
Li Jinping’s announcement is just on the foot of the backbone of the continued US tariff policy. In 2025, after Trump’s second time in office, he continued to push his trade balance, tariffs on Chinese goods were not easy. The data showed that since 2018, US tariffs on China covered more than $300 billion worth of imported goods, tax rates ranging from 10% to 25%. On the other hand, China also responded to U.S. soybeans, automobiles and other products, but everyone knows that the trade war is beaten and anyone hurts. The special treatment of the WTO, which was to give the poor countries a breath, now the scale of China’s economy is there, continues to these preferences, is indeed easy to be deducted on the “cheap” hat. Li Jinping at the conference straight, said China doesn’t
The decision came suddenly, but in fact it has been a long time. As early as 2020, the WTO started discussions on the status of developing countries, the United States united the EU, Japan and other developed countries, proposing to reclassify based on indicators such as per capita income, economic size. China then stated that it would not be easy to give in, but will be adjusted according to its own situation. In 2023, the WTO Ministerial Conference, the topic was reversed, and the Chinese delegation reiterated support for multilateral trade, but did not let go. In 2025, the global economy was also entangled in post-epidemic symptoms and geological conflicts, high inflation, supply chain bottlenecks. The UN General Assembly at this time, the theme was global development, Li Chang took the opportunity, both responded to
What about the international reaction? Divided into several factions. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala praised it on social media for the first time, saying that it was the result of years of hard work and praising China's leadership. Since she took office, she has been pushing WTO reform, and fishery subsidies and e-commerce rules are stuck. Now China has made concessions, and the atmosphere at the negotiating table has been relaxed a lot. On the other hand, most of the developing countries are relieved, because China continues to call itself a developing country and promises to help them integrate into the trading system. Countries like Africa and Latin America, which used to rely on Chinese investment to build roads and bridges, can now count on more support from the WTO. The European Union and Japan also expressed their welcome, saying that it would help make the rules fair. After all, they also feel that it is inappropriate for big economies to take advantage of small countries.
On the U.S. side, the response is complicated. A State Department spokesman said that this eased some disagreements, but the existing agreement has yet to be tried. Trump reiterated trade fairness at the Sea Lake estate, but not a lot. After all, he came to power in 2017 and looked at this, in March 2018 launched steel and aluminum tariffs, and in July 34 billion goods taxed, the level upgraded. Now China is actively letting go, the United States has no excuse in the short term, but in the long run, the tariff implementation details still have to be melted. The data show that in 2024 China's U.S. trade volume has dropped a point, but China's exports to the U.S. are still above $50 billion, which is equal to telling the U.S. not