US steel, aluminum tariffs set to hurt its standing at WTO: experts
The US could see lasting damage to its economy and its standing at the WTO, as major economies push forward their legal fight against US tariffs on steel and aluminum products at the global trade body, Chinese analysts said on Wednesday.
Opposition to punitive trade measures launched by US President Donald Trump is picking up pace at the WTO, and analysts said it could end up dealing a major blow to the country that once championed the multilateral trade body.
At a meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on Monday, seven major economies, including China, the EU, Canada and Mexico, submitted separate requests for the organization to set up a panel to examine whether the US' tariffs of 10 percent on aluminum products and 25 percent on steel goods violate WTO rules.
"While the US claims the measures at issue were taken because of national security reasons, to the complainants it appears that the duties, in their content and substance, were taken as safeguard measures," the DSB said in a document.
He Weiwen, a former Chinese trade official, said the move to request a panel of experts is a "natural" step that is in line with DSB procedures because bilateral consultations between the countries and the US have failed.
"The move itself is very normal. It's just following procedures," He, who is now a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday. "But it is significant when seven major economies, including allies, are challenging you at the same time."
At the meeting, the EU said the fact that one country was targeted by seven complaints in one day was "unprecedented" and "a sign of the degree of objection the US actions were eliciting from members," according to the DSB document.
China also said that the "tariffs, taken under the guise of national security, are obviously and egregiously inconsistent" with WTO rules.
The US rejected the requests for setting up a panel and argued that "it is simply not the role of the WTO to review a sovereign nation's judgment of its essential security interests." The US further warned that such a step by the DSB would undermine its legitimacy and "even the viability of the WTO."
