Switzerland was heard at the WTO following its complaint in 2018 once morest US tariffs on steel and aluminum. In four decisions published Friday in Geneva, the arbitration tribunal agrees with him, as well as three other countries including China.
Like several other actors, Switzerland had denounced as unfair the protectionist policy of former US President Donald Trump. The latter had decided on customs tariffs on certain products, including steel. The goods concerned totaled an export value of several tens of millions of francs per year, while the Federal Council had decided not to apply retaliatory measures.
According to the Special Group (arbitration tribunal) of the World Health Organization (WTO), the additional duties of 25% on steel products and 10% on aluminum products violate several commitments of the United States. The same comment applies to products derived from these two components.
Similarly, no war or international tension justified relying on security reasons, according to the court, which asks the United States to comply with its obligations by removing the devices that might violate them. “The panel followed the legal arguments presented by Switzerland,” reacted the State Secretariat for the Economy (SECO).
The procedure before the arbitration tribunal will have taken four years. He had mentioned the pandemic, then the complexity of the case to explain the different delays.
Trade tensions with China
All the complaints of the various countries once morest the United States had been grouped together to facilitate their evaluation. On Friday, China, Norway and Turkey obtained the same favorable decisions as Switzerland.
For Bern, this request to the organization was “important”. It was only the second she launched in more than 20 years of WTO. The Swiss ambassador to the organization Didier Chambovey denounced in 2018 unilateral safeguard measures that “nothing justifies”. Washington had motivated its policy by its security interests.
Among the targeted countries, the United States had mainly attacked China, triggering a trade war that had lasted for many months between the two countries. Beijing had decided on retaliation, before an appeasement was found between the two powers.
Billions of dollars
Switzerland, like other actors, has always admitted that the Chinese “overcapacity” targeted by Washington constitutes “a real concern”. But this should not be resolved by means that violate WTO agreements, she said. The United States retorted that no international jurisdiction should pronounce on measures that they take for security reasons.
Admittedly, they had then granted more than two thirds of exemptions on Swiss exports. But the American decision had also had repercussions on European policy, thus affecting Swiss imports and exports from the European market.
With Beijing, tensions had risen fairly quickly. Washington had imposed additional tariffs on 250 billion Chinese imports in total. Beijing then launched taxes on a total of 110 billion dollars (regarding 109 billion francs) of American goods.
American rejection
The United States reacted by rejecting the WTO decision without appeal, in the name of national security.
“The United States strongly rejects the erroneous interpretation and conclusions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) panel reports released today regarding challenges to United States actions under Article 232 on steel and aluminum,” U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Hodge said in a statement.
He argued that “the United States has for more than 70 years taken the clear and unequivocal position that matters of national security cannot be addressed in WTO dispute settlement.”
Also, he stressed, the WTO “has no authority to question a WTO member’s ability to respond to a wide range of security threats.”
The United States can appeal the decision. However, the world trade policeman’s appeal body has not been operational since Donald Trump blocked the appointment of judges, a blockage which Joe Biden did not put an end to.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats
