US hits back at allies, China on metal tariffs in WTO move

Bloomberg

The Trump administration is hitting back at what it considers unjustified retaliatory tariffs that were imposed in response to US steel and aluminum duties.
The US Trade Representative said it launched formal challenges at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico and Turkey for retaliating against steel and aluminum tariffs. The Trump administration earlier this year imposed 10 percent duties on aluminum and 25 percent on steel after finding imports of the metals pose a risk to national security.
“Instead of working with us to address a common problem, some of our trading partners have elected to respond with retaliatory tariffs designed to punish American workers, farmers and companies,” US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.
Lighthizer said US would take ‘all necessary actions’ to protect its interests and urged trading partners to ‘work constructively’ with the Trump administration to address overcapacity in both metal sectors.
Canada, China, the EU, Mexico and Turkey have imposed retaliatory tariffs on $23.4 billion worth of US goods in response to Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.
A European Commission spokesman said that while the bloc’s decision to retaliate was proportionate and WTO-compatible, the US is entitled to seek an independent review in which the European Union will explain and defend its position.
The Canadian government said its tit-for-tat tariffs are allowed under the rules of the WTO and North American Free Trade Agreement. “The tariffs imposed by the United States on Canadian steel and aluminum are unacceptable and illegal,” Adam Austen, the spokesman for Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, said.
The Mexican government said in a statement that it will look at the US request with the goal of answering it in the next 10 days.
The Trump administration has criticized the WTO for encroaching on US legal sovereignty and failing to rein in China’s alleged violation of global trading rules. Trump himself threatened to take action against the WTO earlier this month after Axios, a news service, reported that his administration had drafted legislation to withdraw the US from the organisation, a move the president repeatedly told advisers he was considering.
The US wins 87% of the cases it brings to the WTO against other countries and loses 75% of the cases other countries bring against Washington, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the 524 cases lodged at the Geneva-based organization since it was founded in 1995 as the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Both figures are better than the average for all nations.