Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 42 • 11th December 2003

US Backs Off On Steel Tariffs


US President Bush announced on Thursday, 4 December, that he would scrap steel tariffs to obey a WTO ruling handed down earlier on this month. His move prevented a possible "trade war" with the EU, China, Japan and other trading partners, who were threatening to impose retaliatory economic sanctions worth over USD 2 billion on US exports within December (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 December 2003). Although trade tensions have eased, EU spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez noted that other issues remained to be resolved, pointing to a WTO authorisation for the EU to impose up to USD 4 billion in countermeasures against a US system of tax breaks that benefit US exporters. The EU mentioned last month that it was prepared to apply a five percent tariff on US goods starting 1 March next year, with an increase by one percentage point each month for a year (see BRIDGES Weekly, 13 November 2003). "US steel retreat allows WTO to smile– briefly," REUTERS, 5 December 2003; "OECD sees steel subsidy deal after US tariff move," REUTERS, 5 December 2003; "EU Says Sanctions Threat Against US Exports Still Remains," DOW JONES INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE, 5 December 2003.

LDC COMMITTEE DISCUSSES LACK OF LDC REQUESTS FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The WTO Sub-Committee on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) met on 8 December for its final 2003 meeting to continue considering the implementation of the WTO Work Programme for LDCs. On the topic of market access for LDCs, Iceland and Japan presented their programmes in this regard (WT/COMTD/N/17 and WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.12, available at http://docsonline.wto.org). Japan made linkages between the overall WTO market access negotiations and improvements for LDC market access. Some delegates questioned certain emergency suspension provisions of the Japanese General System of Preferences (GSP) scheme. Japan responded that guidelines for their use would be translated to a WTO working language, which would help other Members understand them. On the topic of technical cooperation, Ambassador Iversen of Denmark — who chairs the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to LDCs (IF) — updated Members on recent developments within the IF, such as its extension to new countries. On WTO training and technical assistance (TA), the secretariat noted that LDCs received priority access. However, some delegates noted that LDCs experience trouble identifying their needs and submitting TA requests, and suggested that the secretariat and the Sub-Committee could play a role in identifying needs and priorities. In 2003, only 33 out of 49 LDCs had submitted TA requests.

The next meeting of the LDCs Sub-Committee is tentatively set for 9 March 2004.

ICTSD reporting.