GENEVA — On 21 November 2018, the World Trade Organization moved toward formal dispute hearings after the United States and several countries confirmed they wanted to press ahead with litigation over President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs, a Geneva trade official said.
China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Norway and Russia all said they would escalate their complaints by seeking adjudication. The United States, for its part, asked for dispute panels against Canada, China and the EU.
A U.S. official rejected the criticism in blunt terms, telling the meeting: “The United States cannot abide this level of hypocrisy,” according to a transcript of the remarks provided to Reuters.
Washington has argued that the metals tariffs, imposed by Trump in March, are a national security measure and therefore outside WTO rules. The U.S. official also said: “Infringing on a sovereign’s right to determine, for itself, what is in its own essential security interests would run exactly contrary to the WTO reforms that are necessary in order for this organization to maintain any relevancy.”
Other governments say the duties are protectionist measures dressed up as security policy. They argue the tariffs hurt rivals around the world, and they have responded with their own retaliatory duties while demanding compensation for the damage.
The WTO system is built to settle trade disputes peacefully where possible, usually by pushing members to bring policies into line with the rules rather than immediately moving to litigation. In these cases, the countries targeted by the complaints had already used their one chance to block panel formation last month, and neither side had shown signs of backing down.
Similar panel requests by Turkey against the United States and by the United States against Mexico were expected to be confirmed later on Wednesday. The WTO also agreed to a U.S. request for a dispute panel on an intellectual property complaint against China.
The Reuters file image attached to the report showed a worker driving a forklift to move aluminum bars at a factory in Anshun, Guizhou province, China, in a July 1, 2013 file picture.
