WTO members concerned over US safeguard measures against imported solar cells

GENEVA - Six WTO members, including the European Union (EU) and China, on Monday expressed their concern over the safeguard measures imposed by the United States against imported solar cells and residential washers in the form of higher tariffs.

The US administration decided in January to impose tariffs of up to 50 percent on imported washers for the next three years, and up to 30 percent on solar cells and modules for the next four years.

China initiated Monday's discussion during a meeting at WTO by saying that the measures were inconsistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and also the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.

It asked the US to explain how it conducted its investigation before coming to decide on these safeguard measures.

China's standpoint is echoed by the EU, which noted that the US had not used this measure in almost 15 years.

The EU urged the US to "refrain from taking any other broad trade restrictive actions and to resort to more proportionate trade defense measures that cause less collateral damage".

Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Singapore also expressed concern on the same occasion.