Almonds will test Modi's love for Trump

NEW DELHI: India blocked a US request to set up a panel to settle its disagreement over retaliatory tariffs imposed by New Delhi on 28 American products including apples, almonds, walnuts, chemicals, chickpeas, pulses and some steel products. The US had taken India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in July for according “less favorable treatment” to its products.“India blocked a first request from the US for the establishment of a panel to rule on India’s decision to impose additional duties on certain US products,” the global trade watchdog’s Dispute Settlement Body said on Monday.On June 15, India had levied higher tariffs on American apples, walnuts, chickpeas, lentils, boric acid and diagnostic reagents after deferring them multiple times in the past year in response to the US imposing a global additional tariff of 25% and 10% on imports of steel and aluminium products, respectively, in March last year.The US, in its request for dispute consultations, claimed that the additional duties with an annual value of trade worth $1.1 billion, which India imposed through a series of notifications issued between June 2018 and June 2019, are inconsistent with provisions of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) by unfairly discriminating against US imports vis-à-vis those from other WTO members.India said it was confident it would prevail in this dispute but that it was not in a position to agree to the establishment of the panel.‘National Security Measures’Washington said that several members, including India, are unilaterally retaliating against the US for actions that, as national security measures, are fully justified under GATT, and “pretending that the US actions are safeguard measures which justify the suspension of substantially equivalent concessions”.While New Delhi has argued that its duties are permitted under the WTO’s Agreement on Safeguards, the US countered saying that its tariffs are not a safeguard measure but were taken under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on grounds of national security.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2o1j7iS