India and US to resolve dispute over steel import duty

India and the United States have agreed to peacefully resolve a dispute over US import duties on some Indian steel products, in which Washington is not yet fully compliant with WTO decisions. According to the WTO, the two countries continue to conduct good faith discussions in search of a positive solution to this dispute. It was stated that on December 18, 2019, the US notified the dispute resolution body of its decision to appeal the report by the compliance team.

In 2012, India pulled the United States into the WTO, arguing that Washington's attempt to impose high import duties on certain Indian steel products was the rule of world trade. Then in June 2017, India re-nominated the WTO, arguing that America had not fully complied with those regulations. India said that a reasonable timeframe has expired on April 18, 2016, within which the United States must comply with the WTO ruling. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body ruled against the United States, stating that the high tariffs imposed by America on certain hot rolled carbon steel from India did not comply with various provisions of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.