A logo is pictured on the building of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ahead of a ministerial meeting to discuss a draft agreement on cutting subsidies to the fishing industry in Geneva, Switzerland, July 15 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

Feb 10 (Reuters) – Canada will seek to join the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia in being included in consultations in the dispute between the European Union and China at the world body Commerce over Beijing’s alleged trade restrictions on Lithuania.

“Canada is concerned about recent trade actions by China against Lithuania and European Union goods and services with Lithuanian content, which could undermine the rules-based international trading system and its institutions,” said Thursday. Global Affairs Canada in a press release.

The EU issued a challenge to the Geneva-based trade body in January, accusing China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania that it says threaten the integrity of the EU’s single market.

China has downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania and pressured multinationals to sever ties with the Baltic nation of 2.8 million people after allowing Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius.

Canada said it opposes “economic coercion” and stands with “like-minded partners to support rules-based international trade” with the WTO.

China, which said the dispute was political rather than economic and called Lithuania’s actions an attempt to “hijack” EU-Beijing relations, considers the self-governing island of Taiwan its own territory. Read more

The WTO challenge gives the parties 60 days to work together to reach a settlement. If none are reached, the EU can choose to launch a formal dispute that would set up a WTO panel to consider its claims against China.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft

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