EU 'Increasingly' Worried by U.S. Line on WTO Rules(slow to obey)

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-trade-wto-us.html

EU 'Increasingly' Worried by U.S. Line on WTO Rules
By REUTERS


Filed at 1:27 p.m. ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - The European Union, which is preparing for more trade sanctions against Washington, expressed ``increasing concern'' Wednesday at apparent U.S. reluctance to bow to world trade rules.
Addressing the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is holding a periodic review of U.S. trade policy, EU ambassador Carlos Trojan said Washington was quick to demand action when it won in trade disputes, but slow to obey when it lost.

``The EU is increasingly concerned about the perception of the WTO which seems to be gaining in the United States...(which has) sometimes tended to be dismissive of WTO findings,'' he said.
The EU and 10 other WTO members, including Brazil, Canada, China and Japan, will ask the Geneva-based body Thursday for permission to levy retaliatory sanctions against the United States in a long-running dispute.

The sanctions, which could run to hundreds of millions of dollars of duties on U.S. goods, aim to force Washington to revoke a scheme under which local companies benefit when anti-dumping duties are imposed on foreign competitors.

The WTO has repeatedly ruled the measure, known as the ``Byrd amendment,'' illegal and it gave the U.S. administration until December 27, 2003, to repeal it. But the deadline passed without it being withdrawn.<snip>

But ambassador Trojan warned against questioning the right of the WTO to issue its verdicts and said failure to abide by them could undermine the multilateral trading system.

[54anickel]

1. WTO? Oh that applies to the REST of the world, not Shrubbies US of A

Seems we're not setting a very good example for the other members of the WTO.