Donald Trump gets setback as WTO ruling likely to foil US plan

The WTO has long avoided a politically fraught confrontation over national-security disputes

The debate over whether the World Trade Organization has the authority to rule on disputes involving countries’ national security was put to rest Tuesday, setting up a battle which has asserted the Geneva-based body doesn’t have the standing to make such decisions.

Russia and Ukraine said they won’t appeal a landmark trade decision in which the WTO upheld Moscow’s right to claim a key exemption to international trade rules that allows governments to take “any action which it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests.”
 

Even though Ukraine lost its complaint against Russia’s transit restrictions, Kiev’s Ministry of