Trade body ruling mixed in U.S.-China dispute

Mediation • World Trade Organization decides for and against U.S. on China issues.

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Geneva • An appeals body of the World Trade Organization has decided it lacked enough information to uphold China's objections to a U.S. law meant to help American companies that face unfair foreign competition.

The WTO appellate body said in an opinion Monday it was "unable to complete the analysis" and could not uphold China's appeal of a previous WTO ruling on the law signed by President Barack Obama in 2012.

But China claimed victory because the WTO panel did not overturn another part of the ruling that said the U.S. violated trade rules when it double-counted certain punishments on Chinese goods.

China's WTO mission in Geneva said in a statement that the panel's conclusions represent "another significant victory of China's challenge against the United States' abuse of trade remedy measures."