The Trump administration launched five separate complaints at the World Trade Organization Monday, claiming that tariffs placed against the U.S. by China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and Turkey were all illegal under the WTO's rules.
The tariffs were retaliation for U.S. tariffs levied on steel and aluminum imports, a move the White House claimed was justified to protect national security. Monday's complaints mark the latest escalation in the White House's ongoing battles with the U.S.'s long-time trade partners.
“The actions taken by the president are wholly legitimate and fully justified as a matter of U.S. law and international trade rules,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "Instead of working with us to address a common problem, some of our trading partners have elected to respond with retaliatory tariffs designed to punish American workers, farmers and companies. These tariffs appear to breach each WTO member’s commitments under the WTO agreement. The United States will take all necessary actions to protect our interests, and we urge our trading partners to work constructively with us on the problems created by massive and persistent excess capacity in the steel and aluminum sectors."
The U.S has placed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports. On Tuesday, the White House released a list of 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, on top of 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion of goods it had previously enacted. In retaliation, China has established 5 to 25 percent additional duties on $3.0 billion in U.S. imports, the EU has placed 10 to 25 percent additional duties on $3.2 billion of imports, Canada has put similar duties on $12.7 billion of imports, Mexico has placed tariffs of 7 to 25 percent on $3.6 billion in imports, and Turkey has put 4 to 70 percent duties on $1.8 billion of U.S. products.
Administration officials have repeatedly argued that the U.S. did not instigate the various trade disputes, but rather has been acting defensively to protect U.S. interests, in particular manufacturing through the steel and aluminum tariffs. It has also argued that China's policies coerce U.S. companies into giving it technology. "They were the ones that started everything by hurting us and we were simply trying to even out the harm that was caused," a senior administration official told reporters last week.
Officials in Canada and Mexico have countered that their their countries are long-time allies of the U.S. and therefore represent no security risk. Both countries were briefly exempted from the tariffs, an attempt by the administration to entice them into making concessions during the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations. When the talks stalled, the exemption was lifted last month.
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