Beijing. China has announced that it will no longer seek the special treatment afforded to developing countries under World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, a shift long demanded by the United States.

Officials from China’s Commerce Ministry said Wednesday that the move aims to strengthen the global trading system, which they said is under pressure from tariff wars and protectionist policies by individual countries. They did not directly reference the United States or President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs, which have targeted numerous countries, including China.

The United States has long argued that China should relinquish its developing-country status because it is the world’s second-largest economy. The designation provides advantages such as lower obligations to open domestic markets to imports and longer transition periods for implementing market-opening measures.

The WTO, which serves as a forum for global trade negotiations and enforces trade agreements, has faced criticism for its diminishing effectiveness, prompting calls for reform.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala described China’s decision as “major news key to WTO reform,” praising the country’s leadership in a post on X. “This is a culmination of many years of hard work,” she wrote.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced the change Tuesday in New York at a China-organized development forum during the annual UN General Assembly meeting.

Commerce Ministry officials emphasized that while China is taking this step, it remains a middle-income country and part of the developing world. At the same time, China has increasingly become a source of loans and technical assistance for other nations, supporting infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, and dams, often carried out by major Chinese state-owned companies.

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