According to the CNBC article, in early March, the Japanese government has threatened that India launched an emergency import restrictions on steel products in violation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, and this will be filed on the grounds of a lawsuit against WTO. Such measures are rarely taken in japan. Japan is the world's second largest producer of iron and steel, which is usually negotiated through bilateral negotiations to resolve trade disputes. But in the face of escalating global trade friction, Japan is taking a more and more drastic way to protect their own interests. Almost half of Japan's steel output is for export. India's move is undoubtedly the destruction of Japan's steel export market.
The government of India believes that the trade dispute should be resolved as soon as possible, in comparison with other disputes over the WTO agreement. According to the Japanese Ministry of economy and industry, India in 2015 began to take measures to raise tariffs on steel products in September. 2016 in March, the government of India to increase imports of iron and steel products led to significant losses in the domestic industry as a result of the official decision to start additional tariff measures.
In general, the world trade organization to solve a disagreement need to spend 18 to 20 months time, but according to the provisions of the world trade organization included in processing perishable items and other aspects of the dispute, the panel and appellate body will be more efforts to improve work speed.
On Monday, the trade dispute settlement mechanism of WTO agreed with the Japanese government to prosecute, and said: according to the India agreement to reduce Japan steel import measures of WTO is a violation of this problem, the organization will set up a special trade dispute settlement panel.
In order to protect the country's fragile hot rolled steel industry from the impact of the surge in imports, the India government implemented a hot rolled steel import restrictions. Compared with the last volume of imports, in 2016, India's hot-rolled steel imports fell to 20%, and will continue to decline until the year of 2018, in March.
The government of India explained to Japan that the measure is in full compliance with the provisions of the international trade organization, saying that the country also has its own special circumstances.
The Japanese government predicts that by 2018, the tariff protection measures will cause the loss of nearly $220 million in the steel industry in japan.
The India government has implemented a series of measures that have been met with complaints from several other WTO, including the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, South Korea, Kazakhstan and vietnam. In the settlement of the problem, these members have the right to make their own views as third parties.