---
title: "In Honor of 15-Year Anniversary of China Joining WTO, Leading Tech Think Tank Says It’s Still Not Living Up to Commitments; Urges President-elect Trump to Take Swift Action Next Year"
summary: |-
  Trade with China has been one step forward, two steps back for 15 years.
date: "2016-12-09"
content_type: "Press Releases"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2016/12/09/honor-15-year-anniversary-china-joining-wto-leading-tech-think-tank-says-it/"
---

# In Honor of 15-Year Anniversary of China Joining WTO, Leading Tech Think Tank Says It’s Still Not Living Up to Commitments; Urges President-elect Trump to Take Swift Action Next Year

WASHINGTON—The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading U.S. science and tech policy think tank, today released the following statement from President Robert D. Atkinson on Sunday’s 15-year anniversary of China joining the World Trade Organization (WTO):

*Trade with China has been one step forward, two steps back for 15 years. Each time China claims to move toward opening up trade, it turns around and introduces another new mercantilist trade barrier to counteract it. The WTO enforcement system has been ineffective at stopping it. In 2001, the pundits were nearly unanimous in saying that joining the WTO could change China as it bought into the same rules of the game for market-based trade that everyone else plays by. Now we know that what China really bought from Geneva was a “get out of jail free” card. President-elect Trump’s pledge to get tougher on China’s mercantilism should be a top priority in January to turn China’s false promises into real ones.*

To learn more, read ITIF’s September 2015 report “[False Promises: The Yawning Gap Between China’s WTO Commitments and Practices](/publications/2015/09/17/false-promises-yawning-gap-between-china%E2%80%99s-wto-commitments-and-practices).”

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2016/12/09/honor-15-year-anniversary-china-joining-wto-leading-tech-think-tank-says-it/*