According to the Yonhap News Agency, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea announced on Monday that South Korea has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) about the United States levying protective tariffs on imported washing machines and solar energy products.
The South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that due to the failure to reach an understanding with the U.S. government on the issue of import restrictions, the department has formally filed a complaint with the WTO. In the past three months, the two parties have been conducting dialogues and seeking outside the WTO. Resolve disputes.
An American worker checks the washing machine at the Samsung Electronics America factory (picture from the Yonhap website)
Under the trade protection measures that took effect in February, the United States will impose a 20% tariff on imports of 1.2 million units of washing machines in the first year, and impose a 50% tariff on more than 1.2 million units; in the first year it will exceed 2.5 Gigabits. Watile's imported solar cells and modules impose a 30% protective tariff.
Although the United States took protective measures in order to protect domestic industries from the sudden surge in imports that caused harm or threats to its domestic production, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea stated that Washington failed to prove that the increase in imports from South Korea and the harm to the U.S. industry. There is a clear connection between.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea stated that the two parties will hold 60 days of negotiations on the dispute between washing machines and solar energy. If the consultation fails, the next step may be Seoul asking a panel of trade experts to make a ruling.
The government will negotiate with the U.S. government to ask them to cancel trade protection measures. If bilateral negotiations fail, they will require the WTO to establish a dispute settlement team. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea stated in a press release.
Before formally filing a complaint, the Korean government informed the WTO last month to suspend the tariff concession to the United States, which is equivalent to the trade volume affected by the U.S. washing machine and solar product trade protection measures.
The U.S. government aims to protect its own companies and imposes tariffs on Korean companies of approximately 480 million U.S. dollars per year, but South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has stated that South Korea will impose tariffs equal to the potential financial losses caused to South Korean companies.
If the tariff preferences are to be eliminated, the WTO's dispute resolution agency will need to determine whether the US protection measures violate WTO rules.