US has appealed against four World Trade Organization panel rulings faulting it for punitive tariffs imposed on steel imports from China and other countries. US has also appealed a ruling that it was flouting international trade rules by labeling imports from Hong Kong as being from China. United States Trade Representative and Chief of Mission in the Geneva office Ms Maria Pagan criticized the rulings during a meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body. She said “The United States will not cede decision making over its essential security to WTO panels. For over 70 years, the United States has held the clear and unequivocal position that issues of national security cannot be reviewed in WTO dispute settlement. The United States cannot support adoption of these fundamentally flawed and damaging reports,” she said, announcing the US decision to appeal. Former US president Mr Donald Trump’s administration introduced the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Marking a departure from a decades-long US-led drive for free trade, Mr Trump justified the steep tariffs with claims that massive flows of imports to the United States threatened national security. The administration of his successor, President Mr Joe Biden, has taken a less combative tone but has stuck with the tariffs. The expert panels the WTO set up in 2018 to settle complaints filed over the tariffs ruled last month that they were inconsistent with various articles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The panels also determined that these inconsistencies were not justified by the security exceptions provided for in the GATT, as they were not applied in a time of war or during a case of serious international tension.
US has appealed against four World Trade Organization panel rulings faulting it for punitive tariffs imposed on steel imports from China and other countries. US has also appealed a ruling that it was flouting international trade rules by labeling imports from Hong Kong as being from China. United States Trade Representative and Chief of Mission in the Geneva office Ms Maria Pagan criticized the rulings during a meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body. She said “The United States will not cede decision making over its essential security to WTO panels. For over 70 years, the United States has held the clear and unequivocal position that issues of national security cannot be reviewed in WTO dispute settlement. The United States cannot support adoption of these fundamentally flawed and damaging reports,” she said, announcing the US decision to appeal. Former US president Mr Donald Trump’s administration introduced the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Marking a departure from a decades-long US-led drive for free trade, Mr Trump justified the steep tariffs with claims that massive flows of imports to the United States threatened national security. The administration of his successor, President Mr Joe Biden, has taken a less combative tone but has stuck with the tariffs. The expert panels the WTO set up in 2018 to settle complaints filed over the tariffs ruled last month that they were inconsistent with various articles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The panels also determined that these inconsistencies were not justified by the security exceptions provided for in the GATT, as they were not applied in a time of war or during a case of serious international tension.
