U.S. turns up heat on WTO compliance decisions

The United States said it wants rapid enforcement of recent World Trade Organization decisions involving European subsidies for Airbus passenger aircraft and India’s local content requirements for solar panels.

   The United States said it wants rapid enforcement of recent World Trade Organization (WTO) decisions involving European subsidies for Airbus passenger aircraft and India’s local content requirements for solar panels.
   “We need to resolve these disputes once and for all,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a statement. “The Obama administration is strongly committed to enforcing the rights of the United States under our trade agreements and we will use every tool at our disposal to expedite these cases for the benefit of American businesses and workers.”
   On Sept. 16, the WTO Appellate Body found in favor of the United States in a dispute challenging India’s domestic content requirements for solar cells and modules under India’s National Solar Mission. The appellate report affirmed a February 2016 WTO panel report finding that India’s domestic content requirements breach international trade rules because they prohibit Indian solar power developers from using solar cells and modules made in the United States in certain projects.
   “Since India enacted these requirements in 2011, American solar exports to India have fallen by more than 90 percent,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. “By requesting the WTO to adopt the reports, the United States is pushing to stop India’s discrimination against U.S. solar exports sooner rather than later.”
   On Sept. 22, a WTO compliance panel found that the European Union, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain breached WTO rules by giving Airbus billions of dollars in additional subsidies.
   The Obama administration on Monday requested a special meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body to ensure that this report takes effect quickly. While the European Union could seek to appeal the compliance panel’s findings, the United States has urged the EU members to accept the panel’s findings and negotiate a settlement to remove all of the WTO-inconsistent subsidies.