Geneva, Switzerland— Washington condemned the World Trade Organization’s verdict Friday on the punitive US tariffs imposed on national security grounds on steel imports from China and other countries.
Former US president Donald Trump’s administration introduced the tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from China, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and his successor, Joe Biden, has stuck with them.
“The United States strongly rejects the flawed interpretation and conclusions in the WTO Panel reports released today…,” Adam Hodge, spokesman for the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, said in a statement.
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“The United States has held the clear and unequivocal position, for over 70 years, that issues of national security cannot be reviewed in WTO dispute settlement.”
The Geneva-based WTO had no authority to second-guess a WTO member’s ability to respond to security threats, he added.
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The WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body found the measures imposed by the United States were inconsistent with various articles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The panel 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.
“The Panel recommends that the United States bring its WTO-inconsistent measures into conformity with its obligations under the GATT 1994,” it said.