(Image source from: worldview.stratfor.com)

With the disputes arising around with India and the US, India recently filed an appeal with the WTO to further get better clarifications on the situation at hand. A specific World Trade Organisation Panel has now finally ruled on Friday stating that Washington has failed to comply with the five year old ruling with accordance to some disputes that have come up over the import duties on the Indian steel products.

The first filing of the appeal by India was submitted at the WTO in 2012 following US’s imposing of the 300% hikes on the import duties on certain products including carbon quality steel pipes, stating that the Indian manufacturers were benefitting from the unfair subsidies.

Following the disputes that rose, the global trade body was again instructed Washington to bring its practices back in line to further prevent any such nuances henceforth. This was ruled out in 2014.

While things seem to have been going around smoothly, India again complained stating that Washington has been stepping out of line and has thus asked WTO to again weigh in on the situation. The ruling for this was conducted on November 15, 2019 and WTO ruled out majority of the claims and allegations made by India. The Dispute Settlement Body of WTO rejected several of the charges.

But, the one thing that they found was the fact that Washington has failed to comply with the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in the original dispute.

Addressing that, the ruling clarified stating that it is important for the United States to bring in their measures into conformity with its obligations to further prevent any further accusations. Further hearing on the same hasn’t been clarified yet.

By Somapika Dutta