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The United States has warned the European Union that reopening a case at the World Trade Organization against Washington over a Trump-era steel and aluminum dispute could harm efforts to work together on multilateral trade, he said. Bloomberg News reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the interviews.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last month told counterparts at a Group of Seven meeting that an EU complaint could undermine attempts to reform the WTO dispute settlement system, European diplomats and other officials said a Bloomberg News.
The WTO’s appellate forum for resolving trade disputes is currently paralyzed due to US maneuvering as Europe seeks to restore the system.
Tai’s comments could fuel European doubts about whether trade ties have improved with President Joe Biden in office. Trump had imposed tariffs on billions of dollars of European exports, and Biden did not remove some, to the disappointment of allies in the region.
The USTR and the European Commission declined to comment on the matter, Bloomberg News reported.