EXCLUSIVE-U.S. asks for WTO panel over metals tariff retaliation
(Adds comment from Chinese commerce ministry)
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Nerijus Adomaitis
WASHINGTON/OSLO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The United States isrequesting that a World Trade Organization dispute resolutionpanel get involved in a clash over international retaliationover U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium, according to a U.S.official familiar with the matter.
The requests, filed on Thursday, cover tariffs by China, theEuropean Union, Canada and Mexico, which followed the UnitedStates imposing a 25 percent duty on steel imports and a 10percent tariff on aluminium imports, which it justified onnational security grounds.
Canada, Mexico and China had also planned to ask for a WTOpanel examining those tariffs, according to another governmentofficial familiar with the matter. Earlier on Thursday, Norwaysaid that it, the EU and other countries would seek the WTOdispute group's help. China has filed a request with the WTO to establish anexpert group to determine the legality of the tariffs, itscommerce ministry said late on Thursday. In a statement posted on its website, the ministry said theU.S. decision to adjust the tariffs was an act of protectionismthat seriously undermined multinational trade rules.
It said consultations with the United States under the WTOdispute settlement mechanism had failed to resolve China'sconcerns, prompting it to ask for the expert group to beestablished.
Officials representing the other countries' tradedelegations could not immediately be reached after normalbusiness hours. The WTO did not immediately respond to requestsfor comment.
The dispute marks a new dimension to the ongoing skirmishbetween the United States and a number of its trading partnersas well as the WTO itself, where it has blocked appointments ofnew judges. The WTO is presiding over a record number ofdisputes, many of them triggered by Trump's tariffs on steel andaluminium and his trade war with China. Norway earlier said initial consultations with the UnitedStates had not led to an agreeable solution, and therefore theNordic country had joined others in asking the WTO to set up thepanel to obtain an independent assessment of the matter.
"We believe that additional U.S. duty on steel and aluminiumis contrary to WTO rules," Norwegian Foreign Minister IneEriksen Soereide said in a statement.
"Therefore, together with the EU and several others, weasked today the WTO to establish a dispute resolution panel onthe U.S. additional duty," she said.
In Brussels, meanwhile, the EU, Norway and Switzerlandsought Asian support for free trade, the Iran nuclear deal andfighting global warming at a regional summit that includedChina, Japan and Russia as a counterbalance to a moreprotectionist United States. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Wednesdaythat trade negotiations with China appear to have taken a briefpause, and he tamped down expectations that the countries wouldmake substantial progress toward an agreement at an upcoming G20meeting. Despite striking a deal with Washington to overhaul theNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico and Canadaremain subject to the metals tariffs. On Tuesday, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom held talks withRoss in Brussels on improving trade relations, though Washingtonaccused the bloc of moving too slowly in negotiations. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and NerijusAdomaitis in Oslo
Additional reporting by David Stanway in SHANGHAIEditing by Mark Heinrich and Tomasz Janowski)
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