EU and US likely to settle safeguard dispute
The dispute over the S201 safeguard measures implemented by the Bush administration back in March 2002 might be settled between the US and EU authorities, even before the WTO ministerial meeting to take place in Cancun early September. The condition to secure such settlement appears to be the US to withdraw the S201 measures earlier than scheduled, i.e., prior to the completion of the three-year period in 2005. In return of such action, the proposed retaliation by the EU estimated to be put on US goods worth $2 billion will be dropped. As a matter of fact, the WTO ruling against the US safeguard application plays an important role in this situation as the US officials are pondering over a possibility of losing the appeal against WTO. Industry experts contemplate that US might go for anti-surge and anti-subsidy agreements with its trading partners instead.