According to the WTO, these liensapplied by Trump in 2018, violate various articles of the General Agreement on Customs and Trade Tariffs (GATT).
After the sentence was announced and despite the change of government in the country, the Office of the United States Trade Representative rejected the “erroneous interpretation and conclusions” of the WTO and He anticipated that he will not abide by the sentence.
“The United States has held the clear and unequivocal position, for 70 years, that national security issues cannot be examined in the WTO dispute mechanism and that the WTO has no authority to challenge a member state’s ability to respond. to threats to their security,” questioned Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the Office, according to a statement Disseminated by the AFP, Europapress and Bloomberg agencies.
In that sense, The United States stressed that it “has no intention” to eliminate tariffsand that this decision by the WTO reinforces its position that the dispute resolution mechanism of the body needs fundamental reform because it is ineffective.
Washington, when applying the tariffs, relied on article 232 of the Commercial Expansion Law of 1962 of that country, which allows limiting the importation of some products to protect national security.
The WTO thinks otherwise: its ruling finds that the US fees were not justified by “security exceptions” which are stipulated by Article 21 of the GATT, since they were not applied “in times of war or serious international tensions”.
Now The United States could turn to the Appellate Body of the WTO, which resolves disputes between its 164 member states. However, it is paralyzed since it does not have the minimum of three judges to function, and the United States itself has refused since 2019 to endorse the appointment of new members since it considers that this instance harmed it in different opinions.
Also in recent days, it was revealed that the United States, together with the EU, plans to add new tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminumprotected by another exception of the WTO legislation: the protection of the environment, in this case, due to China’s carbon emissions.
From the US private sector, the United Steelworkers – sector union – and the American Institute of Iron and Steel, affirmed that the WTO overstepped its duties and called on Joe Biden’s administration to maintain tariffs.
Between 2019 and 2021, The US negotiated and reached agreements with Mexico, Canada and the European Union for the lifting of these tariffs, after they threaten retaliation against US exports.
If Argentinianin May 2018, the country logre to be excepted payment of these fees after reaching an agreement.
The Aluminum is among the main resources that Argentina exports to the United States: Aluar is the main exporter of said metal while, in steel, Acindar, Ternaris-Siderca and Ternium-Siderar stand out.
Later, at the beginning of December 2019, Trump ordered the reimposition of tariffs on Argentina and Brazil as a result of the devaluations that affected, at that time, the peso and the real, which -argued the former US president- represented “harm to US farmers”.
Ultimately, Trump backtracked on the decision and the tariffs were not applied.
Source: Ambito
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