THE United States is requesting that a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution panel get involved in a clash over international retaliation over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The requests cover tariffs by China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico, which followed the United States imposing a 25-ercent duty on steel imports and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum imports, which it justified on national security grounds.

Canada, Mexico and China had also planned to ask for a WTO panel examining those tariffs, according to another government official familiar with the matter. Norway said that it, the EU and other countries would seek the WTO dispute group’s help.

China has filed a request with the WTO to establish an expert group to determine the legality of the tariffs, its Commerce Ministry said last week.

In a statement posted on its website, the ministry said the U.S. decision to adjust the tariffs was an act of protectionism that seriously undermined multinational trade rules.

It said consultations with the United States under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism had failed to resolve China’s concerns, prompting it to ask for the expert group to be established.

The dispute marks a new dimension to the ongoing skirmish between the United States and a number of its trading partners as well as the WTO itself, where it has blocked appointments of new judges. The WTO is presiding over a record number of disputes, many of them triggered by Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum and his trade war with China.

Norway earlier said initial consultations with the United States had not led to an agreeable solution, and therefore the Nordic country had joined others in asking the WTO to set up the panel to obtain an independent assessment of the matter.

(SD-Agencies)