Britain joins US in attack on China’s trade subsidies

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said joining the tripartite group would be “a good way of building bridges with the US and the EU on trade”.

He said: “It’s good for the UK to try and come to a consensus position on these issues; there’s no point in the UK taking its own approach. If the aim is actually to try and change Chinese behaviour and get new commitments from China in these areas, then you need to present a united front.

“China is compliant for the most part with its WTO obligations. The problem is that the existing set of obligations don’t capture the things that China is doing that other countries perceive to be unfair. That’s what the US wants to upgrade and change.”