The White House told the World Trade Organization Wednesday that China’s complaint about the United States’ recently enacted steel and aluminum tariffs was “baseless” and should be ignored by the international body.
China has requested a “consultation” with the WTO, the preliminary stage in filing an official complaint, following the White House’s announcement last month of tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum ones. China has argued the tariffs violate the WTO’s rules, but the administration says they are exempt because they involve national security.
“[The] president determined that tariffs are necessary to adjust imports of steel and aluminum articles that threaten to impair the national security of the United States. These actions are not safeguard measures, and therefore, there is no basis to conduct consultations under the (WTO’s) Agreement on Safeguards with respect to these measures,” U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Beijing and the WTO.
The administration has consistently justified the tariffs on national security grounds, arguing that they were needed to protect domestic steel and aluminum producers because the defense industry relies heavily on those products. However, the administration has exempted numerous trade partners from the tariffs. It has said the exemptions for Mexico and China are temporary and contingent on those countries making concessions during the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations.
The White House has been sparring with China on trade policy on multiple fronts. On Tuesday, the administration proposed tariffs on 25 percent on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. China has responded by saying it will levy tariffs covering a similar amount of U.S. goods.
