Tuesday, at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting chaired by Petter Ølberg of Norway, several pronouncements were made regarding ongoing disputes between member nations and concerns about the functioning and reform of the Appellate Body.
Appeals: China and the Dominican Republic have respectively appealed panel reports regarding duties imposed on certain products from the US (DS558) and anti-dumping measures on corrugated steel bars (DS605). As a result, both items were removed from the current meeting's agenda.
US and Argentina Dispute: The US denied Argentina's request to set up a panel for investigating the US's anti-dumping duties on Argentina's oil country tubular goods. While Argentina cites significant economic damage, the US believes its actions comply with WTO rules.
China and Japan Dispute: Following a panel ruling that China violated the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement on certain stainless steel products from Japan (DS601), China has committed to implementing the panel's recommendations but is yet to set a compliance deadline. This has led to disappointment from Japan.
US's Concerns: The US raised concerns over the WTO's panel ruling in DS597, where a requirement to mark products from Hong Kong, China as "Made in China" was found violating the "most favoured nation" obligation. The US argues that the WTO lacks authority in national security assessments. Hong Kong, China criticized the US for repeatedly addressing the issue.
India's ICT Tariffs: The EU, Chinese Taipei, and India requested the DSB to delay considering the panel reports on India's tariffs on high-tech goods until December 18th, allowing for further resolution discussions.
Appellate Body Appointments: Guatemala, representing 130 members, made the 68th proposal to start the process of filling vacancies in the Appellate Body. The US again opposed the proposal, emphasizing the need for fundamental reform in the WTO's dispute settlement system.
US-China Trade Disputes: The US pointed out China's inconsistent behavior in suing the US at the WTO while also imposing retaliatory tariffs. The EU and Russia disagreed with the panel's findings, supporting China's stance.
Surveillance of Implementation: The US presented status reports on multiple cases, underscoring its commitment to addressing outstanding disputes.
Our correspondent reports:
Geneva – China has appealed a recent World Trade Organization panel ruling issued in favor of the United States over Beijing’s decision to impose retaliatory tariffs on US products following the Trump Administration’s decision to slap national security tariffs on global steel and aluminum
imports.
At last week's regular meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, Washington said that China’s decision to pursue its own dispute against the US Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff measures highlights its hypocrisy by both suing the United States in the WTO and at the same time unilaterally retaliating with tariffs.
Washington argued that the panel rightly rejected China’s argument that the Section 232 actions are safeguard measures that may be “rebalanced” under WTO rules. The United States said
China’s use of the WTO dispute settlement system to challenge the Section 232 national security actions has caused grave systemic damage to the WTO and that WTO reform must ensure that issues of national security cannot be reviewed in WTO dispute settlement.
In a sharp response, China said “There are errors in legal interpretations in the panel’s findings,” and second, “the issues underlying the measures in this case have not yet been resolved.”
China said “The root of China’s rebalancing measures lies in the U.S. Section 232 tariffs on certain steel and aluminum products.”
More importantly, “the US should change its course and return to multilateralism as soon as possible,” China emphasized, adding that “due to the obstruction by the United States, the Appellate Body is currently unable to hear the case, and China’s appeal request will therefore be shelved.”
The European Union and Russia took the floor to voice their disagreement with the panel's findings.
Aside from the above dispute, China signaled its intention to implement the findings of a dispute panel report in a case initiated by Japan regarding Chinese antidumping duties on stainless steel products from Japan.
However, China sought a reasonable period of time to implement the ruling, while Japan said it regrets that the two sides have not yet been able to agree on a compliance deadline.
However, China sought a reasonable period of time to implement the ruling, while Japan said it regrets that the two sides have not yet been able to agree on a compliance deadline.
At the meeting, the United States came under intense pressure not only on its seeming untenable positions on blocking the AB vacancies but on some new and some old trade disputes.
The old trade disputes revolve around the US failure to implement rulings in the disputes “US – Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Products from Japan”, “United States – Section 110(5) of US Copyright Act”, “United States – Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Measures on Large Residential Washers from Korea” and the “United States – Certain Methodologies and their Application to Anti-Dumping Proceedings Involving China.”
The new trade dispute against Washington involves Argentina’s first-time request for establishing a dispute settlement panel to adjudicate against the allegedly illegal antidumping measures imposed by the United States on imports of oil country tubular goods from Argentina. The United States blocked Argentina’s first request to establish a panel yesterday, but will not be able to prevent the establishment of the panel if Argentina persists with a second request at the next DSB meeting on October 26.
India, which apparently lost a trade dispute on India’s imposition of tariffs on imports of certain high-tech goods to the European Union and Taiwan, got a green signal from the DSB on a request made by the three parties to delay the adoption of the panel reports until December 18, in order to help facilitate resolution of the disputes.
On another trade dispute concerning antidumping measures imposed by the Dominican Republic on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica, DSB Chair Ambassador Petter Ølberg of Norway announced at the beginning of the meeting that the Dominican Republic appealed the panel ruling against its AD measures.
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