Washington informed the World Trade Organization of its intention to block the reappointment of one of the judges serving the international body. The decision made by Trump administration comes as China has officially filed for dispute consultations with the United States.
If the United States successfully blocked the reappointment of Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing, a judge from Mauritius, this could make WTO dysfunctional. The European Union, meanwhile, is already taking preliminary steps to prevent this from happening.
Reuters explained that WTO has seven appeals judges but only has four at the moment since three have already left. Now, if Judge Servansing does not get his reappointment WTO will be left with three judges. While WTO needs only three judges to continue its processes, terms of the two remaining judges, excluding Servansing, end in December 2019. This suggests that WTO will almost certainly lose its relevance by next year and this may come as trade tensions have already reached extreme scenarios.
U.S. President Donald Trump is faced with several disputes at the WTO after he imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports of steel and 10 percent tax on imports of aluminum. China, the EU, Canada, Turkey, and Mexico imposed retaliatory tariffs against the United States. The Trump administration appealed these tariffs to WTO and the U.S. president had since accused the international body of being unfair to Washington.
The threat of blocking Servansing's appointment happens as WTO announced that China has officially requested dispute consultations with the United States. Beijing's request was circulated to WTO members on Aug. 27, the international body said. China asserts that tariffs applied to $16 billion in annual Chinese imports breached the provisions of the WTO's policies on tariffs and trade.
Filing dispute consultations mean that both parties will be appearing before WTO judges to discuss the issues. The aim is to find an agreeable settlement without going further with court litigations against each other. After 60 days of filing, and consultations failed in this regard China may proceed to request for adjudication before a panel.
Reuters reported that 67 out of 164 WTO members are trying to convince the United States against it plan of rendering WTO futile.
Indeed, EU will convene trade ministers from Washington and Japan by September in Brussels. The meeting will herald high-level meetings with international trade ministers that will be held across the world within 2019. Such meetings will be targeted at addressing trade conflicts among nations according to two unnamed officials who have spoken exclusively with Bloomberg. The EU will also announce a modification plan that will safeguard WTO from going irrelevant. The plan will see a more flexible and transparent dispute-settlement system in place.
