Seven members of the World Trade Organization have challenged US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as a protectionist move and requested an investigation by the international trade body for possible violations of WTO provisions.

Delegates gathers for the World Trade Organization reform talks in Ottawa, Ontario, on October 25, 2018. (File photos: VCG)
At the October 29 meeting, the Chinese representative said that China believes that the US Steel Aluminum Tariff Measures are meant to eliminate the damage to the domestic industry caused by imported steel and aluminum products, to safeguard the economic interests of related industries in the United States. Therefore, the "national security" mentioned by the US steel and aluminum tariff measures is entirely a pretext for trade protectionism.

US Steel's aluminum tariff measures are safeguarding in nature and seriously violate the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

US measures have had an impact on the multilateral trading system. China has requested the establishment of an expert group for review.

The EU representative said that the application for the establishment of the expert group from the seven members of the WTO on the same day was “unprecedented”, reflecting the degree of opposition caused by the US tariff among the members. The US steel and aluminum tariffs are trade protection measures.

The counterpart from Canada said that it was impossible to understand that the export of US aluminum and steel may threaten US national security and expressed concern that steel and aluminum tariff measures may damage the integrity of the global trading system.

The representative of Norway believes that the measures taken by the United States have clearly deviated from the commitments made by the United States under the multilateral trading system.

Mexico, Russia and Turkey also expressed concerns about the US steel-aluminum tariff measures.

On the same day, the US objected to the initial application of the above-mentioned parties to set up an expert group.

The seven WTO members will submit their applications to the expert group again at the next WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting to be held in November.

Meanwhile, the US once again criticized China's intellectual property protection and asked the WTO to set up an expert group to review China's measures to protect intellectual property rights.

China refuted the US' accusation as lacking factual basis and was completely groundless. China opposes the US request for the establishment of an expert group. 

According to WTO rules, after a trade dispute between members, a request for consultation may be filed with the WTO DSB. If the relevant members cannot reach an agreement during the consultation period, members may request the establishment of an expert group to decide the dispute.

On March 18, US President Donald Trump defied opposition from his own party and protests from overseas as he signed orders imposing stiff and sweeping new tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on imported steel and aluminum products, respectively due to so-called “national interest”.

The Trump administration's tariff measures for steel and aluminum products from most economies came into effect on March 23, and tariff measures for steel, aluminum and aluminum products from the EU, Canada and Mexico came into effect on June 1.