Advance of Trump, the United States had serious trade frictions with many countries, including China, and some of the trade dispute cases were appealed to WTO (WTO). Now, there is finally an authoritative ruling on the US Steel and Aluminum 232 tariff dispute. According to a series of expert group reports released by the WTO, it is ruled that the metal tariffs imposed during the Trump administration violate international rules and called on the United States to return to normal.
report content shows that during the Trump period, the tariffs imposed by the US on many countries do not meet the conditions for other emergencies during the war or under the framework of international relations. Therefore, the US’s claims on national security are unreasonable and cannot use the WTO security exception clause. The report also stated that the controversial behavior of the United States has damaged the interests of China and other countries. It is recommended that the United States adjust the tariffs and return to the track consistent with its obligations.
Some media analysts said that the WTO's ruling rejected the most core point of view of the United States. Previously, when the US imposed tariffs on other countries, there was a proven reason that was successful, that is, "national security", and the US believed that whether a violation of national security should be judged by each country, rather than a third party assessment. The WTO's ruling now shakes the rationality of the US position and deals a major blow to its trade hegemony.
The US's tariffs have actually expanded the definition of a national security threat and have long been questioned by the international community. The Sino-US trade friction has received widespread attention due to the large economic scale of both parties involved. In fact, other countries have been hit by tariffs along with China. The trade dispute between Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye and the United States also applies to the latest WTO ruling. In addition, the trade dispute between Russia and India and the US Article 232 tariffs are still in the ruling and the results have not been released. EU , Canada and Mexico suspended the ruling requirements after negotiating with the US and withdrew their retaliatory tariff measures.
If the US side is not convinced of this ruling, it can appeal within the next 60 days. According to WTO rules, if the US does not comply with the WTO ruling, the country that filed the lawsuit has the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on the US. It is worth mentioning that due to the Trump era, the US government frequently used veto and unilaterally opposed the launch of the new judge selection process, which led to the repeated reduction of the number of incumbent judges. The WTO Appellate Body is actually in a state of "paralyzing". If the US wants to appeal, the WTO cannot accept it. This is a typical practice of shooting itself in the foot.
China appreciates the fair ruling of the WTO. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce of China said that since 2018, the United States has selectively increased tariffs on steel and aluminum products of some WTO members, and in the name of "national security", it has implemented unilateralism and protectionism, seriously undermining the rules-based multilateral trading system. The US's approach has not only been opposed by many WTO members, but has also attracted widespread criticism at home. China urges the US to respect the WTO's rules and rulings, correct illegal measures as soon as possible, act in line with China, and jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system. The US side must be very angry when
gets such a ruling result. The Office of the US Trade Representative spokesman Hodge responded that the US side disagreed with the WTO's "wrong conclusion" and would not hand over the basic security decision-making power to the WTO, nor would it cancel the Article 232 tariff that caused the dispute. Hodge also threatened that the ruling proved the need to fundamentally reform the WTO dispute resolution mechanism.
When other countries need to transfer their interests, the US side took the rhetoric of "rules-based international order ". Now the United States does not abide by the rules it sets and threatens to completely reform the WTO. The so-called "rules" of the United States are just rules that are beneficial to itself, and the so-called international order of the United States is just an international order centered on itself. The US's angry statement will not change the WTO's ruling result, but will only allow more countries to see the US's selfish, hypocritical and domineering ugly behavior.
