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Wto steel tarrifs Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020603/bs_nm/trade_steel_dc_4http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020603/bs_nm/trade_steel_dc_4
WTO Panel to Rule on U.S. Steel Tariffs
Mon Jun 3, 7:57 AM ET
By Robert Evans
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization (news - web sites) (WTO) on Monday launched a probe to decide by the end of this year on whether hefty tariffs on steel imports imposed by the United States violate international trade agreements.
Countries in the 144-member body approved creation of a three-person expert panel -- requested by the European Union (news - web sites) but backed by several countries, including Japan and China -- at a meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).
The United States, which insists the measures imposed in March are in line with WTO rules and says it will defend its case vigorously, blocked a first request from the EU at a DSB meeting on May 22.
But under the trade watchdog's dispute regulations, it could not do so a second time and Monday's decision to set up the panel was automatic.
"This is an important step forward in our response to the unjustified, highly protectionist U.S. measures," said European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.
"Similar requests by other countries for panels will shortly be accepted as the rest of the world joins to press the United States to remove (the tariffs)," he said in a statement issued in Brussels.
The steel row -- which has set the United States against most other producer countries -- has stoked accusations that the administration of President George W.Bush is pursuing a unilateralist course to serve his own domestic political aims.
Those charges have been intensified with Bush's approval of a farm bill pumping huge new subsidies into U.S. agro-businesses active on global markets, with a U.S. refusal to commit to new targets aimed at reducing global warming (news - web sites) and others on promoting world sustainable development.
There are also fears that the disputes over steel and farm subsidies could torpedo the drive for a further round of trade liberalization, which WTO members agreed to launch at a ministerial meeting last November.
Members of the WTO panel are likely to be selected within the next month and under DSB regulations would normally have up to six months to hand down a ruling.
However, selection of the panel could be delayed as a significant number of countries are also bringing similar complaints, complicating the choice of the three trade jurists.
PROTECTIONIST SPIRAL
China, in its first use of the WTO complaints machinery since joining the world trade body at the start of the year, will make its first request for a similar panel on June 7, while Japan and South Korea (news - web sites) already have requests pending.
And even the six-month timeframe for a panel decision can be extended. Diplomats say they doubt that the jurists could stick to the deadline in such a complicated -- and politically sensitive -- dispute.
Even when it is handed down, the panel's ruling can be challenged by either side, moving the case to the WTO s quasi-judicial Appellate Body.
Appeals hearings and other procedures would mean that it could be late next year before there is a final decision.
The EU and several other countries including Brazil, Norway and Switzerland argue that the tariffs of up to 30 percent on a wide range of steel products contravene WTO pacts, including the Safeguards Agreement invoked by Bush in announcing them in early March.
Brussels and Tokyo say that the agreement allows them to impose retaliatory tariffs on other U.S. goods from June 18 unless Washington offers them compensation for their losses on steel sales to the United States.
But they have indicated that they may hold off to allow more time for a U.S. move in that direction.
"The U.S. action is leading to a spiral of protectionist measures," warned South Korea's ambassador to the WTO.
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