Key points
- Move aims to support global trade system
- US long pushed for this change
- WTO chief calls decision major reform
- China still identifies as developing nation
BEIJING: China has announced it will no longer seek the special treatment afforded to developing countries under World Trade Organization agreements — a shift that has long been requested by the United States.
“Okayyyy, we are not a developing country anymore”
China agrees to drop its status at the WTO after Americans kept whining that China is a rich country now.
Technically, China is a borderline developed nation with a GDP-per-capita of nearly $14,000. pic.twitter.com/pCDeVw4jOJ
— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) September 23, 2025
Officials from the Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday that the move aims to strengthen the global trading system at a time when it faces challenges from tariff disputes and protectionist measures by individual nations to curb imports, reports AP News.
They did not directly mention the United States or President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on numerous countries this year, including China.
China will no longer claim the special treatment available to developing nations at the World Trade Organization, removing a point of contention with the US that’s been one barrier to the two nations agreeing on reforming the global trade forum https://t.co/z1bPDeTa35
— Bloomberg (@business) September 23, 2025
The US has consistently argued that China should relinquish its developing-country status, given that it is the world’s second-largest economy. That status at the WTO allows for more lenient requirements in terms of opening domestic markets to imports and provides extended transition periods to implement such commitments.
Calls for reform
The WTO serves as a platform for international trade negotiations and monitors compliance with trade agreements, but its influence has waned in recent years, prompting widespread calls for reform.
The head of the Geneva-based organisation described China’s decision as “major news key to WTO reform” and expressed appreciation to the country’s leadership in a post on X.
Sharing major news key to WTO reform! Premier Li Qiang of China has just announced that China will no longer have access to Special and Differential Treatment in new WTO Agreements. This announcement was made at a meeting convened by China on its Global Development Initiative on… pic.twitter.com/y0IT3exgaL
— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) September 23, 2025
“This is a culmination of many years of hard work,” wrote Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO director-general.
Middle-income country
Chinese Premier Li Qiang made the announcement during a speech in New York on Tuesday at a China-hosted development forum held alongside the annual United Nations General Assembly.
While China identifies as a middle-income country, Commerce Ministry officials stressed that it remains part of the developing world.
Nonetheless, China has increasingly become a provider of loans and technical support to other nations working to develop infrastructure such as roads, railways, and dams — projects often delivered by large Chinese state-owned enterprises.
