Two panels will judge whether the U.S. acted appropriately in its treatment of Canadian softwood lumber, World Trade Organization representatives agreed April 9. One panel will investigate the antidumping side of the action, and the other will review the countervailing duties, which can be as high as 17.99 percent. According to a Geneva trade official, Canada said the duties are damaging Canadian softwood lumber producers in several provinces. The U.S. said its AD/CVD measures (see 1801020034) are legal, and it is disappointed that Canada is pressing its case at the WTO. It had blocked Canada's first request for a panel (see 1803270018).
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 6 (some may also be given separate headlines):
Soybeans, aircraft, cars and liquefied propane accounted for the largest dollar amounts of trade from the U.S. into China among goods that would be subject to new tariffs if the U.S. goes forward with Section 301 tariffs, the United Nations' International Trade Centre said in a tweet. China's list of goods potentially subject to new tariffs came in response to a U.S. proposal to add tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods (see 1804030070). President Donald Trump has since directed the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to look into tariffs on another $100 billion worth of Chinese goods.
China disputed the legality of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum at the World Trade Organization (see 1803260025), and now the U.S. is disputing both the characterization of those tariffs and how China has responded to them. The tariffs were for national security, and not to protect domestic industry from rising imports, asserted Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea, ambassador to the WTO. China's decision on April 2 to implement tariffs on pork, aluminum scrap and other U.S. exports were not justified, Shea wrote in a letter to China's WTO ambassador, since China can only use the safeguards to respond to safeguards, and the U.S. measures were not safeguards. "China has asserted no other justification for the measures, and the United States is aware of none," he wrote. "Therefore, it appears that China's actions have no basis under WTO rules."
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 4 (some may also be given separate headlines):
China will respond proportionately to any U.S. tariffs implemented as part of the Section 301 investigation, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai said while speaking on an English-language Chinese television station on April 2. If the U.S. does add tariffs as a result of that investigation as expected, "we will certainly take countermeasures of the same proportion, and of the same scale, same intensity," he said. The White House said the total value of goods subject to levies will be $50 billion (see 1803220034). Cui emphasized that the latest tariffs on U.S. imports (see 1804020009) were solely in response to the tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Mexico's Diario Oficial of April 3 lists trade-related notices from the Secretary of Economy as follows:
Ukraine is asking for consultations at the World Trade Organization over the U.S. Commerce Department's January determination that Ukraine is dumping carbon and alloy steel wire rod (see 1803130013). The WTO on April 3 published the request, which asks why the two companies that cooperated have antidumping duties of 44.03 percent, while others have 34.98 percent. It also asks why the U.S. took action against wire rod exporting companies in two groups (see 1803210009) to evaluate material injury. The document asks: "Would the United States please clarify how such a methodology comply with WTO rules and principles?" In other action April 3 at the WTO, China officially submitted its safeguard tariffs reacting to U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 1804020009).
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 2 (some may also be given separate headlines):