A WTO panel to rule on new US tariffs on steel imports
As per reports from Reuters, at the request of EU, WTO decided to set up a panel in order to investigate and decide whether the heavy tariffs on steel imports imposed by the
US violate international trade agreements. Other countries are following EU with similar requests. According to EU Trade Commisioner Pascal Lamy, this is an important step taken against the highly protectionist
US measures and shortly other countries requests will be accepted and eventually will push USA to remove these tariffs as rest of the producer companies believe that Bush administration follow a unilateralist course for serving their own domestic political aims.
China is preparing to request a similar panel following South
Korea and
Japan who have already done so and as more and more countries are getting involved, it seems that final decision will be made towards the end of next year.
"The U.S. action is leading to a spiral of protectionist measures," warned South
Korea's ambassador to the WTO.