US may reject India’s plea to join China in tariff dispute
The US on Thursday rejected a separate submission for consultation by India holding that the tariff action is a step taken to protect national security
New Delhi: The US is likely to reject India’s plea to join as a party in the dispute filed by China against the unilateral steel and aluminium tariff hikes by the US. In a similar case, India rejected requests by the European Union and Canada to join dispute consultation against its export subsidies, filed by the US.
The US on Thursday rejected a separate submission for consultation by India on the same matter at the committee of safeguards, holding that the tariff action by the Donald Trump administration is not safeguard duties but a step taken to protect national security. “Nonetheless, we are open to discuss this or any other issue with India,” the US said.
Through a presidential proclamation, the US on 8 March imposed tariffs of 25% and 10% on certain steel and aluminium items respectively that came into effect from 23 March.
India on Wednesday requested the US to permit it to join consultations as a third party in the dispute since India is a significant exporter of steel and aluminium products to the US. This is different from India directly filing a dispute against the US. At the consultation stage, a defending country can reject requests by other countries to become party to a dispute. However, once a dispute settlement panel is established, it cannot refuse other countries joining the dispute as third parties.
India in its submission claimed that in 2017, it was the 10th largest exporter of steel to the US while its exports of aluminium to the US are also “significant”.
According to calculations by US-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, India can retaliate against the US with $300 million of tariffs while China and Japan each are eligible to retaliate with tariffs of $700 million on US imports.
Meanwhile, the WTO may establish a dispute panel against India’s export subsidies as requested by the US since both sides could not resolve the matter through consultations carried out on 11 April.
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First Published:19 Apr 2018, 09:38 PM IST
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