New Delhi: The United States stated to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminium were imposed on national security grounds, not as safeguard measures.
This response came after India filed a request with the WTO on April 11, seeking consultations under the Safeguards Agreement regarding these tariffs.
India has argued that, despite the US's characterisation of these measures as security measures, they are, in essence, safeguard measures.
India has further stated that the United States failed to notify the WTO Committee on Safeguards, as required under the Agreement on Safeguards, when deciding to implement these measures.
"The US notes that the premise for India's request for consultations under Article 12.3 of the Agreement on Safeguards is that the tariffs are safeguard measures. The President imposed the tariffs on steel and aluminium pursuant to Section 232, under which the President determined that tariffs are necessary to adjust imports of steel and aluminium articles that threaten to impair the national security of the US," stated the Trump administration in its response to the WTO dated April 17.
The United States defended its tariffs on steel and aluminium by asserting that they were implemented under Section 232, a national security statute. This allows the tariffs to remain in place under the security exception outlined in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994. Additionally, the US clarified that these tariffs were not imposed under the Trade Act of 1974, which governs the application of safeguard measures. This distinction reinforces the US's position that the tariffs are security measures rather than safeguards.
"The United States is not maintaining these actions pursuant to the safeguards/emergency action provision. These actions are not safeguard measures, and, therefore, there is no basis to conduct consultations under the Agreement on Safeguards with respect to these measures," the US has stated in its defence.
(inputs from IANS)