The World Trade Organization agreed on Monday to establish a panel to settle a disagreement over India’s decision to impose retaliatory import tariffs on 28 US products.

This comes almost a month after India blocked the first request by the US to set up a panel to decide on New Delhi’s decision to impose additional duties on products including apples, walnuts, chickpeas, lentils, boric acid and diagnostic reagents.

The United States said that every sovereign has the right to take action it considers necessary for the protection of its own security and that the US actions are completely justified under Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). What remains inconsistent is the unilateral retaliation against the US by various WTO members, including India, based on the claim that the US duties are a safeguard action. Just as these members appear ready to undermine the dispute settlement system by ignoring the plain meaning of Article XXI and 70 years of practice, so too are they ready to undermine the WTO by pretending to follow its rules while imposing measures that blatantly disregard these rules, the US declared.

India said that it was disappointed the United States has chosen to move forward with its case and reiterated that its actions are consistent with WTO rules. India considers that the US Section 232 measures on steel and aluminium imports are nothing but a disguised safeguard intended to protect the US domestic industry in the garb of national security. India's rebalancing measures are in direct response to the unwarranted restrictions imposed by the US, India declared.

The WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body agreed to the establishment of the panel. The European Union, Japan, China, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Guatemala, Ukraine, Turkey, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Norway, Venezuela, Russia, Malaysia and Singapore reserved their third party rights to take part in the proceedings. (From Scrapregister)