Latest WTO panel report gives U.S. little window for win on 232 tariffs

Last week’s landmark World Trade Organization panel report weighing in on a member’s use of the national security exception left little avenue for the U.S. to succeed in defending its Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, analysts say. The report, issued in response to a dispute over transit restrictions imposed by Russia on Ukraine, rejected the U.S.-backed Russian argument that the WTO’s national security exception contained in Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is self-judging,...