The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that United States (US) tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum imports contravened global trading rules.
The three-person adjudicating panel said the US measures were inconsistent with WTO rules and recommended that the American authorities bring them into conformity. However, the White House has strongly rejected as “flawed” the WTO’s interpretation and conclusions of its panel.
The tariff regime was imposed in 2018 by then US President Donald Trump, who levied a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminum in 2018, using Section 232 of a 1962 Act that allows the president to restrict imports if they are threatening national security.
Free trade partners Canada and Mexico were later exempted.
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