WTO Lets EU Impose Countermeasures on US in Raw Olives Dispute
World Trade Organization members on Dec. 19 agreed to let the EU impose countermeasures on imports from the U.S. due to U.S. violations of WTO rules in its antidumping duty and countervailing duty proceedings on Spanish ripe olives, the WTO announced.
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An arbitrator issued a decision last month in the dispute, finding that the EU can ask the Dispute Settlement Body for permission to allow the EU to suspend concessions or obligations not exceeding $13.64 million per year, since this was the level of impairment of benefits accruing to the EU due to the U.S.'s violations (see 2511020001).
Prior to the arbitration, a WTO dispute panel found that Section 771B, through which the Commerce Department can presume that the entire benefit of a subsidy provided to a raw agricultural input producer passes to the downstream processed agricultural product producer, violates the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (see 2111190028). In a second dispute, opened after Commerce attempted to rework its CVD laws, a separate panel said the revised laws also violate the GATT (see 2402210032).
The present compliance proceedings were opened following this second dispute, which were referred to arbitration. While the EU sought to impose countermeasures up to $35 million, the arbitrator only allowed for such measures to reach $13.64 million per year. On Dec. 19, the DSB authorized that full allotment.