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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr25/10) Geneva, 11 Apr (D. Ravi Kanth) — The United States on 10 April justified its imposition of reciprocal tariffs at the World Trade Organization on grounds of extraordinary national and economic security considerations, in a statement that seemingly showed an utter disregard for the WTO rules and the sharp concerns expressed by some 20 members, said people familiar with the development. Instead of speaking under agenda item 11 dealing with the reciprocal tariffs at a meeting of the WTO’s Council for Trade in Goods (CTG), the US chose to speak under the agenda item of “other business”, stating that President Trump declared a national emergency under domestic law due to the extraordinary threat to US national and economic security arising from conditions reflected in the large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits, said people familiar with the development. A US official maintained that President Trump determined that “these large and persistent deficits have been caused by a lack of reciprocal trading relationships which have contributed to the atrophy of US manufacturing capacity”, which in turn, has undermined critical supply chains and compromised defense preparedness. The US official said that “the United States is not, through this action, altering or abrogating its WTO tariff bindings or commitments,” despite China having already launched a trade dispute against the US reciprocal tariffs on grounds of alleged violation of several core provisions of the WTO rules. According to the US official, Washington is “taking action it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests.” “For this reason, the United States invokes and is maintaining this measure pursuant to the essential security exception in the WTO agreement,” the US official is understood to have said, according to people familiar with the US statement. Expressing deep regret over the US statement, China is understood to have said that the US measures have dragged the global economy into enormous uncertainty, said people familiar with the Chinese statement. “Each day brings new disruptions, undermining the stability that businesses and all economies depend on,” China said, adding that “the Chinese people value sincerity and good faith.” China told the US that “pressuring and threatening are not the right way in dealing with China,” according to people familiar with the Chinese statement. Further, “any differences on trade cannot justify a unilateral tariff war and that there are no winners in the trade war,” China said, lending support to what the WTO Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said on 9 April, that the WTO serves as a vital platform for dialogue. Resolving this issue within a cooperative framework is essential, China concluded. Aside from the discussion on the US reciprocal tariffs, an item that was inscribed by China on the CTG agenda, the Council also reviewed more than 30 specific trade concerns. The additional new trade concerns include European Union – Proposal for a regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gas), amending directive; India – Measures that may have unintended results equivalent to quantitative restrictions; and the Philippines – Export restrictions on minerals in their raw form. Also discussed at the CTG meeting were concerns raised by members on issues such as non-tariff barriers, environmental policies, import taxes, import/export restrictions, national security, the “halal” certification, subsidy schemes, export controls, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, discriminatory domestic taxes, administrative procedures, and trade disruptive and restrictive measures. These concerns seem to be related to the policies and practices of the following members: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the EU, Indonesia, the US, Peru, China, Egypt, India, France, the United Kingdom, and Panama. +
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