Three Republican Senators Oppose Appellate Body Appointments
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that they do not want the World Trade Organization Appellate Body to be resurrected. The WTO no longer has binding dispute settlement, because members can appeal into the void if they do not like the results of a case in Geneva.
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In a letter the senators released Aug. 30, they wrote: "Restoring the Appellate Body would only do harm to the United States and give international bureaucrats and members of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] more influence over U.S. trade policy[.] We ask you to continue blocking the appointment of new Appellate Body members."
They reiterated the same criticisms of the Appellate Body that Tai has, and also said that when Chinese nationals are on the Appellate Body, they are vulnerable to coercion by the Chinese government. "The CCP shouldn’t get a vote on the WTO Appellate Body when it is the primary threat to free and fair trade around the world," they wrote.
They said that allowing countries to ignore the conclusions of a Dispute Settlement Panel "has allowed WTO members to regain a measure of sovereignty. And, of course, to the extent Members want to agree to truly binding dispute settlement, they have numerous options to do so -- including, for example, an agreement not to appeal the results of a panel decision."