The Hindu : U.S. steel tariffs violate trade rules

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 28, 2003

Business

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U.S. steel tariffs violate trade rules — WTO

WASHINGTON MARCH 27. The World Trade Organisation has ruled that steel tariffs imposed by the U.S. President George W. Bush last year to protect the American industry from a surge of imported steel violated international trade rules. The WTO was acting on complaints by the EU and major steel producers and exporters in Asia and Latin America.

A U.S. trade official yesterday said they intended to appeal, which could take many months and would perhaps last till the end of the three-year life of the current U.S. tariffs. The main thrust of the complaints by the EU, Japan, Brazil, China and others was that the tariffs, supposedly aimed at protecting the U.S. industry from a "surge'' of imported steel, came when U.S. imports had been declining for a couple of years. U.S. Congressmen reacted sharply to the decision with democrat Sander M Levin, member of House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade, saying it "furthers a trend that jeopardises the credibility of the WTO dispute settlement system and must serve as a wake-up call for the Administration.''

PTI

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