It has been on the news the so called US-Chine Trade War, with Trump imposing tariffs in some Chinese goods in a claim this will protect their local industry.
The WTO Panel wrote on the report:
"Regarding the imposition of additional duties on List 2 products, the Panel found that the United States had not provided an explanation that would allow the Panel to understand an “ends and means” relationship between the additional duties on List 2 products and the public morals objective invoked by the United States.
In summary, the Panel concluded that the United States had not provided an explanation demonstrating how the imposition of additional duties on the selected imported products in List 1 and List 2 was apt to contribute to the public morals objective invoked, and, following on from that, how they were necessary to protect public morals. The Panel found, accordingly, that the United States had not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures are provisionally justified under Article XX(a)"
Additional comments though on this report, says the role of the panel was not to draw on any legal conclusions or provide any recommendations on any matters other than those it had been specifically tasked to deal with, and thus the Panel recalled that the Government of the United States had not yet initiated action under the WTO DSU with respect to measures that China had imposed in response to the United States measures at issue in this dispute.
So whilst this may be seen as one step forward, it remains to be seen if the US will take counteraction for the Chinese response to their tariffs imposition.
For more information on this report, click here
