Paul Carsten & Michael Martina, Reuters | April 8th, 2016 | MMG
The United States has labeled China’s internet censorship a trade barrier in a report for the first time since 2013, saying worsening online restrictions are damaging the business of U.S. companies.
Since Xi Jinping became China’s president that year, the U.S. had not listed China’s so-called Great Firewall as a trade impediment despite widespread outcry that the online blocks limit access to crucial information, email and search services such as those found on Google’s platform.
“Outright blocking of websites appears to have worsened over the past year, with eight of the top 25 most trafficked global sites now blocked in China,” the U.S. Trade Representative wrote in its annual report on foreign trader barriers. […]
