40 members object to US tariff plan at WTO

GENEVA — Major trading partners of the United States, including the European Union, China and Japan, voiced deep concern at the World Trade Organization on Tuesday about possible US measures imposing additional duties on imported autos and parts.

Japan, which along with Russia had initiated the discussion at the WTO Council on Trade in Goods, warned that such measures could trigger a spiral of countermeasures and result in the collapse of the rules-based multilateral trading system, an official who attended the meeting said.

More than 40 WTO members, including the 28 countries of the EU — warned that the US action could seriously disrupt the world market and threaten the WTO system, given the importance of cars to world trade.

The US has imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports and is conducting another national security study that could lead to tariffs on imports of cars and auto parts. Both sets of tariffs would be based on concerns about US national security.

US President Donald Trump said on June 29 that the probe would be completed in 3-4 weeks.

But the EU has warned the US that imposing import tariffs on cars and parts would harm its own automotive industry and likely lead to countermeasures by its trading partners on $294 billion of US exports.

A Russian official told the WTO meeting that the issue of US investigations had been raised over the past year in different WTO meetings, only to see things change for the worse.

The US was losing its reputation as a trusted trade partner, the Russian delegate told the meeting, adding that the US could soon start an investigation into the case for import tariffs on uranium products.

China, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Singapore, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Qatar, Thailand, India and China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region all echoed the same concerns and said they doubted the US tariffs were in line with WTO rules.

The US diplomat at the meeting said the matter was already the subject of formal disputes at the WTO, so it should not be on the committee’s agenda, the official who attended the meeting said.