United States calls for formation of WTO panel on tariff retaliation on metals



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by Trevor Hunnicutt and Nerijus Adomaitis

WASHINGTON / OSLO (Reuters) – US urges World Trade Organization dispute settlement committee to engage in clash over retaliation imposed by the United States on US tariffs on steel and aluminum a US official informed.

Applications filed on Thursday concern tariffs applied by China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico, following which the United States imposed a 25% duty on imports of 39, steel and 10% on imports of aluminum.

Canada, Mexico and China had also planned to ask a WTO panel to examine these tariffs, according to another government official familiar with the matter. Earlier on Thursday, Norway said the EU and other countries would seek help from the WTO dispute settlement group.

Representatives of country trade delegations could not be contacted immediately after normal business hours. The WTO did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

The dispute marks a new dimension of the ongoing skirmish between the United States and a number of its trading partners, as well as the WTO itself, where it has blocked the appointment of new ones. judges. . The WTO is presiding over a record number of disputes, many of which are related to Trump 's tariffs on steel and aluminum and its trade war with China.

Norway stated that the initial consultations with the United States did not result in an acceptable solution. the Nordic country therefore joined others in asking the WTO to set up a panel to obtain an independent badessment of the issue.

"We believe that a supplement of US law on steel and aluminum is contrary to WTO rules," said Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said in a statement.

"That is why, together with the EU and many others, we have asked the WTO today to set up a special dispute settlement panel on the additional duty imposed by the United States, "she said.

Meanwhile, the EU, Norway and Switzerland have called for Asian support for free trade, the Iranian nuclear deal and the fight against global warming at a summit China, Japan and Russia as a counterweight to a more protectionist United States.

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Wednesday that trade talks with China seemed to have stopped and that countries' expectations of substantial progress in next G20 meeting would not be supported.

Despite the conclusion of an agreement. Washington will revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico and Canada remain subject to tariffs on metals.

Tuesday, Cecilia Malmstrom, head of the EU Trade Sector, spoke with Ross in Brussels about improving trade relations, although Washington accused the bloc of progressing too slowly in the negotiations.

(Reportage of Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, edited by Mark Heinrich and Tomasz Janowski)

(This article was not edited by the staff of Business Standard and is generated automatically at from a syndicated thread.)

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