Free Trade and Protectionism

The US wins World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade enforcement disputes

The US has won a major victory at the WTO on behalf of the nation's farmers and the poultry industry. The WTO found in favour of the US in a dispute challenging India's ban on agricultural imports from the US such as poultry, meat, eggs and live pigs, allegedly to protect India fromthe spread of disease. The panel agreed that India's ban broke international trade rules and was imposed without sufficient scientific evidence.

This is the fourth major WTO victory that the US has announced this year. The US government is determined to extend economic opportunity for US workers, farmers and businesses.

Earlier US victories at the WTO in 2014 were:

?In June, the WTO found that China broke rules by imposing unjustified extra import duties on US cars. In 2013, an estimated US$5.1 billion of US car exports were covered by those duties.

?In August, the WTO found that China broke WTO rules by imposing quotas on Chinese exports of tungsten and molybdenum. These are important raw material inputs used by US manufacturers of products such as car batteries, wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting, steel, petroleum and chemicals.

?Also in August, the WTOagreed with the US that Argentina's import-licensing requirementand other import restrictions broke international trade rules. The Argentine measures unfairly restricted imports of US goods, potentially affecting billions of dollars of US exports, including computers, industrial and agricultural chemicals, transport equipment, machine tools, parts for oilfield rigs and refined fuel oil.

Source: The Prairie Star, 19 October 2014

Table 1: US Trade in Goods with India 2009-2014 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Exports 16 441 19 249 21 542 22 106 21 842 23 600 (US$ millions) Imports 21 166 29 533 36 155 40 513 41 845 45 228 (US$ millions) Source: US Census Bureau