WTO rules against U.S. steel tariff

[Urban Ranger]

GENEVA (Reuters) - Emergency tariffs imposed by the United States on steel imports in March 2002 are in violation of global trading rules, the World Trade Organization said Friday.

The formal finding, five months after an interim ruling also went against the United States, was released in the report of a panel that looked into a complaint filed by the European Union, Japan, and six other countries.

link

As expected.

The US doesn't really expect they could get away with it, right?

[Q Classic]

this is good news, but i think posco sells most of its steel to countries other than the us.

[Kirnwaffen]

The Bush Administration doesn't exactly have a track record of listening to or cooperating with international organizations, so whether or not this ruling means anything is, in my view, highly questionable.

[Urban Ranger]

Lets hope they do so a trade war can be averted.

[Kidlicious]

I think the US should have a steel industry. This is bad.

[Q Classic]

i don't mind the us having a steel industry. it just should be able to compete.

in any case, i still like posco.

[Drake Tungsten]

The US doesn't really expect they could get away with it, right?

Of course not. It was a political move and a genius one at that.

[RGBVideo]

That took 8 months? I'm losing my faith on these bureucratic organisations which can't make any fast decisions even in the most obvious cases.

(How much money has been wasted on the pockets of the invididual bureucrat's, I wonder?)

[LoneWolf]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
i don't mind the us having a steel industry. it just should be able to compete.

in any case, i still like posco.

Indeed. So you think we should bring our unions under control?

[Gatekeeper]

Does the WTO ever rule against any other nation than the United States?

[Q Classic]

it did a while back against japan and korea for dumping memory chips and what not.

and i'm not sure how to bring them under control. they should definitely realize that during poor economic times, their survival depends on the company's survival--which is why they should accept short term cuts in exchange for work.
that's something a rational player would do--and why i think what the mechanic's union at united did was unconscionable and idiotic.

unfortunately, i can't think of a way to make them rational. you can't do it the traditional korean way, which is to knock heads...

[LoneWolf]

Gatekeeper- Rarely, its purpose is to keep the US trade deficit as high as possible. Remember, it is an "international" organization, which means it is intended to benefit everyone other than the US.

Q Qubed_ A very sensible response, I hopre the union leaders read it.

[Gatekeeper]

I was curious, since the WTO rulings one hears the most about in the United States are, naturally, the ones that go against us. Which, IMO, seems to be quite often, although I think there's been a time or two when the WTO went our way (I keep thinking bananas here for some reason).

Gatekeeper

[Kramerman]

our steel industry will be destroyed... oh well. its sad, but if it is too inefficient to compete, it might be best for it to go. I wonder what repercussions this could have on our coal industry and other related industries if american steel does go the way of the do-do bird

[C0ckney]

yes gatekeeper, the WTO has ruled in favour of the US several times, the bananas example is a trade dispute with the EU. basically EU countries gave special terms to former colonies for importing bananas which the US objected to, the WTO ruled against the EU and allowed the US to impose some tarrifs on some european goods.