U.S. says prevailed in electronics payments case versus China

The World Trade Organization on Monday ruled in favor of the United States in a case challenging China UnionPay's virtual monopoly on China's electronic payments market, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said.

"I'm pleased to report that the United States has prevailed in the dispute with China regarding electronic payment services for payment card transactions," Tim Reif, general counsel for the USTR's office said in a statement.

"Today the WTO circulated the Panel's final report and found in favor of the United States regarding most of the measures we challenged based either on our claims under the national treatment provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) or our claims under the GATS market access provisions," Reif said.

The United States had argued that China UnionPay's virtual monopoly in China came at the expense of foreign suppliers like Visa (>> Visa Inc), Mastercard (>> Mastercard Inc) and American Express (>> American Express Company).

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Paul Simao)

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