Trump On WTO

American President Donald Trump has announced imposing reciprocal tariffs on its major trading partners including China that levy higher import duties on goods shipped from the United States. He has already announced a 25 per cent duty on steel and aluminium imports, which will come into effect from March 12. While announcing the new tariff policy, the president has also spoken about how India is "right at the top of the pack" when it comes to tariffs. With all these countries being members of the global trade body World Trade Organisation (WTO), the decisions of the US may challenge the WTO principles. A list of Q & As (questions and answers) to explain the wider implications of the US move: Q. What is WTO? A. The 166-member Geneva-based WTO is a multilateral body which formulates rules for global trade and adjudicates disputes between the countries. Its main objective is to promote smooth, predictable and free flow of goods. Both India and the US have been members since ...

India should prepare for changing dynamics

The governments called on the World Trade Organization to beef up existing regulations, which they said in a statement are "insufficient to tackle market and trade distorting subsidisation

The appellate branch of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, sometimes called the supreme court of world trade, will stop functioning on Wednesday after years of relentless US opposition

Developing country status in the WTO allows governments longer timelines for implementing free trade commitments, as well as the ability to protect some domestic industry and maintain subsidies

Trump singled out China in a memo to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, saying that "the United States has never accepted China's claim to developing-country status"

Trump, who has previously criticized the WTO's dispute settlement system as being unfavourable to the US