Not safeguards, however safety: US defends metal, aluminium tariffs amid India’s WTO grievance
NEW DELHI: The US has informed the World Commerce Group (WTO) that its resolution to impose tariffs on metal and aluminium imports was taken on nationwide safety grounds, not as a safeguard measure, a key distinction that challenges India’s formal grievance filed earlier this month.
In a communication dated April 17, the US stated the tariffs had been imposed underneath Part 232 of US commerce regulation, which authorizes the President to limit imports that threaten to impair nationwide safety. “The US notes that the premise for India’s request for consultations underneath Article 12.3 of the Settlement on Safeguards is that the tariffs are safeguard measures,” the communication acknowledged. “The President imposed the tariffs on metal and aluminum pursuant to Part 232, underneath which the President decided that tariffs are needed to regulate imports of metal and aluminum articles that threaten to impair the nationwide safety of the US.”
The response got here after India requested consultations with the US underneath the WTO’s Settlement on Safeguards on April 11. India has argued that the tariffs, no matter how the US labels them, are in essence safeguard measures, which include clear obligations underneath WTO guidelines, together with formal notifications and consultations.
“However the USA’s characterisation of those measures as safety measures, they’re in essence safeguard measures,” India acknowledged, accusing the US of failing to inform the WTO Committee on Safeguards as required underneath the Settlement on Safeguards (AoS).
In its reply, the US maintained that Part 232 isn’t a safeguard software however a nationwide safety statute, and thus falls underneath the safety exception clause of the Basic Settlement on Tariffs and Commerce (GATT) 1994. This clause permits WTO members to take measures “needed for the safety of important safety pursuits.”
The US tariffs on metal and aluminium, initially imposed in 2018, have lengthy drawn criticism and authorized challenges from a number of international locations. By framing the motion underneath nationwide safety quite than safeguards, Washington goals to defend the transfer from WTO scrutiny.
India’s transfer to provoke consultations alerts a push to carry extra transparency and accountability to such commerce measures. If the difficulty isn’t resolved via talks, India may search the institution of a dispute settlement panel on the WTO.
