USD professor testifies to Congress on China trade

WASHINGTON — A University of South Dakota law professor testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday about how China is using its anti-monopoly laws against U.S. companies.

Thomas Horton, a former lead trial attorney at the Justice Department and now a professor at the University of South Dakota’s school of law, has been studying China’s anti-monopoly laws since 2012. He also taught in Beijing in 2012 and Shanghai in 2014.

Tuesday, Horton testified that while regulators in the communist country are increasingly embracing antitrust rules, much of their enforcement activity is influenced by social and economic circumstances that are less important in the United States.

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The Chinese need to stop pretending “they are acting neutrally and objectively … (and instead) find better ways to focus primarily on competition policies, as opposed to industrial protectionism,” he told the House subcommittee.

He noted that since China’s anti-monopoly law went into effect in 2008, the country’s enforcement activity has been focused on foreign companies. Chinese officials, Horton said, are using their law to protect long-term economic and social interests, and maintain competitive opportunities for its small and medium-size businesses.

Still, he said the rules being used by the communist country could have some value to regulators in the United States.

“Rather than wasting time criticizing China and trying to lure it into following current American models, we should humbly ask ourselves whether we might learn from the Chinese and their Confucian traditions and values,” Horton said. “China should be lauded for seeking to pursue an aggressive antitrust policy that takes into account Confucian norms of ethics, morals, and fairness, and seeks to inspire increased corporate social responsibility."

Contact Christopher Doering at cdoering@gannett.com or reach him at Twitter: @cdoering