South Korea has launched a wide-ranging complaint at the WTO to challenge the US use of anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties, citing their use on steel and transformers, a filing with the global trade body showed on Tuesday.
The US has 60 days to settle the issue, after which time South Korea could ask the WTO to adjudicate.
The complaint targets US trade laws that pre-date the administration of US President Donald Trump, but it adds to the friction already stoked by Trump’s policy of putting “America first,” which is widely seen as protectionist.
CANADA
Washington is already wrestling with a WTO case brought by Canada that challenges the foundations of US trade law and is fighting China’s claim to be treated as a “market economy,” a designation that could stymie US defenses against Beijing.
Meanwhile, Trump has thrown the whole WTO dispute settlement process into crisis by blocking the appointment of new appeals judges, threatening to halt the workings of a system that has refereed global commerce for almost quarter of a century.
South Korea filed its complaint on Wednesday last week, challenging anti-dumping duties of up to 60.81 percent that were slapped on South Korean steel products and transformers in May 2016.
The South Korean Ministry of Trade last week said that applying “Adverse Facts Available” (AFA) rules allowed the US to unfairly levy high anti-dumping duties without thoroughly verifying data available to it.
CHINA
In May last year, in a dispute with China, the WTO appeals judges ruled that the use of AFA could be challenged in a dispute, although there was not enough evidence to challenge them in the Chinese case.
The South Korean complaint made no mention of recent trade friction over the US imposition of “safeguard” duties on solar panels and washing machines.
Seoul has asked Washington for compensation in that case, a demand that could potentially be undermined if it became the subject of a dispute.
Taiwan, the EU, China and Japan have also demanded compensation for those US safeguard duties.
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