WTO Ready for U.S. Sanctions

[oldhat]

http://tinyurl.com/5o5qq

WTO Ready for U.S. Sanctions

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization cleared the way on Thursday to impose $150 million of trade sanctions on the United States, sought by the European Union and others, after lawyers resolved a legal wrangle.

The sanctions request, which stems from a row over an illegal U.S. anti-dumping law, had been expected to be rubber-stamped by the WTO on Wednesday.

But U.S. lawyers delayed authorization for 48 hours, when they queried some of the wording in the demand made by the EU and its allies -- Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, Japan and South Korea.

"The problem has been resolved. We can resume our meeting tomorrow," Kenyan ambassador Amina Mohamed, chairwoman of the WTO's disputes settlement body (DSB), told Reuters.

The case, one of a number pitting Brussels against Washington, involves the so-called Byrd amendment, a measure the Geneva body has repeatedly declared breaks trade rules.

The green light for sanctions from the DSB is effectively automatic because the case has gone through all the WTO stages for settling disputes, including appeals and arbitration.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. what is the old saying? OH yes, when it rains it pours....

Houston WE ARE HAVING A MAJOR FUCK UP and the games are fully afoot

[Deja Q]

2. $150 million? That isn't even pocket change for Microsoft, let alone the

US government.

Or is this a shot across our shoulder in an attempt to get the US government to wake up?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. The amount is tied to the subsidies the US government gave

In eight separate decisions, the WTO ruled the governments may strike back against U.S. goods equal to 72 percent of the total paid by their companies as dumping or anti-subsidy duties.
...
``The retaliation is tiny, relatively speaking, and most of it belongs to Japan, which is not particularly aggressive in trade matters,'' said Dan Ikenson, trade policy analyst at the free-market Cato Institute in Washington. Punitive tariffs may reach as high as $3 billion next year, he said, because extra duties imposed by the U.S. on imports of softwood lumber from Canada will take effect.

``Then, Canada will have most of the leverage, and Canada is much more litigious than Japan,'' Ikenson said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aDjly1QGJAPs&refer=japan

[VivaKerry]

4. As of today, it is official

WTO Approves Sanctions on U.S. Exports

1 hour, 6 minutes ago

Business - AP

By JONATHAN FOWLER, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA - The World Trade Organization (news - web sites) on Friday approved stiff sanctions on a wide range of American exports intended to punish the United States for failing to repeal what it considers protectionist legislation, a trade diplomat said.

"It's been approved," said Amina C. Mohamed, Kenyan ambassador to the WTO and chairwoman of the organization's dispute settlement body.

The European Union (news - web sites) and other plaintiffs sought formal WTO authorization to retaliate by imposing new duties against various U.S. products. Among the potential targets are cod, textiles, glassware, mobile homes and apples.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=509&e=1&u=/ap/us_trade_sanctions