WTO finds against United States on Trump metal tariffs

The World Trade Organization ruled on Friday that U.S. tariffs imposed on steel and aluminium imports by former president Donald Trump contravened global trading rules, a judgment immediately criticised by Washington. In one of the most high-profile and potentially explosive cases to come to the WTO, the three-person adjudicating panel said the U.S. measures were inconsistent with WTO rules and recommended the United States bring them into conformity.

The World Trade Organization ruled on Friday that U.S. tariffs imposed on steel and aluminium imports by former president Donald Trump contravened global trading rules, a judgment immediately criticised by Washington.

In one of the most high-profile and potentially explosive cases to come to the WTO, the three-person adjudicating panel said the U.S. measures were inconsistent with WTO rules and recommended the United States bring them into conformity. The United States said it strongly rejected the "flawed" interpretation and conclusions of the panel. It could appeal the ruling. This would send it into a legal void because Washington has blocked appointments to the WTO Appellate Body, rendering it incapable of giving a judgment.

Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminium in 2018, using 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. The tariffs prompted several WTO members China to challenge the measure and on Friday, a three-person WTO panel issued its findings in the cases brought by China, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. Cases brought by India and Russia are still pending.

Washington last year agreed to remove tariffs on EU imports, prompting Brussels to suspend the EU case. The administration of President Joe Biden has otherwise kept in place the metals tariffs that were one of the centrepieces of Trump's America First strategy.