Trade Cases
U.S. Challenges India's Retaliatory Tariffs at WTO
Written by Sandy Williams
July 9, 2019
The U.S. is taking issue with retaliatory tariffs imposed by India in response to the Trump administration’s Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. In a request for consultation with the World Trade Organization, the U.S claims that India is violating Articles 1:1 and Article II 1(a) and (b) of GATT 1994.
India issued an order in June 2018 to raise import taxes on 20 U.S. products in retaliation to the steel and aluminum tariffs. The taxes ranged from 5 to 100 percent on products from almonds to motorcycles and were repeatedly delayed while the two governments sought to work out a trade deal.
On June 16, 2019, India expanded the product listing to 28, increased the custom duties and implemented the order on approximately $1.4 billion in goods. The trade measure followed a move on June 5 by the United States to halt trade privileges for India under the Generalized System of Preferences. The loss of GSP will impact New Delhi’s $5.6 billion of duty-free exports per year.
In its complaint to the WTO, the U.S. wrote: “India does not impose the additional duties measure on like products originating in the territory of any other WTO member. India also appears to be applying rates of duty to U.S. imports greater than the rates of duty set out in India’s schedule of concessions.”
Tweeting that “this is unacceptable and the tariffs must be withdrawn!” President Trump said he looked forward to discussing the matter with India’s prime minister at last week’s G-20 meetings. Those talks on the sideline failed to bring much relief to the increased tension between the United States and India. The two leaders discussed four issues: Iran, 5G, bilateral relations and defense relations.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a press conference last week with India Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said reinstating India to the GSP didn’t come up during discussions. “We didn’t discuss the lifting of that, but we agreed we would work through that problem,” said Pompeo. “We’re going to do our best to make sure that all the right people get in all the right places and work through these problems so that we can get on with the business of growing.”
On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his stance on India in another tweet: “India has long had a field day putting tariffs on American products. No longer acceptable!”
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Trade Cases
Nippon respects HR dumping decision, expects lower rate in next review
Nippon Steel says it respects the US Department of Commerce’s findings in administrative reviews despite the agency recently assigning the Japanese steelmaker a higher dumping margin.
CRU: Trump tariffs could stimulate steel demand
Now that the dust has settled from the US election, as have the immediate reactions in the equity, bond, and commodity markets, this is a prime opportunity to look at how a second Trump presidency might affect the US steel market.
Rebar import duties to continue for 5 more years
Import duties on rebar from a handful of countries will continue to be collected for at least another five years.
Leibowitz: Trump 2.0 signals Cold War 2.0 trade and China policies
China is one of the elephants in the room as the transition to Trump 2.0 continues. While the people and policies are still being formulated, it’s possible to detect a strategy for the new Trump administration. I think there are two imperative issues that the new administration needs to balance. The Trump strategy will, I believe, follow the following points. First, trade is one of the issues that got President Trump elected in 2016 and 2024—it nearly got him elected in 2020, save for the pandemic. If President Trump had won in 2020, I might be writing chronicles about the end of his eight years in the White House now instead of projecting what the next Trump administration would accomplish or break. Oh, well—that’s life. Trade will necessarily be a key feature of relations with China for the next four years.
Commerce says Nippon dumped steel in US in 2022-23
Commerce determined a significant dumping margin for hot-rolled steel imports from Japan's Nippon Steel.