HK WELCOMES WTO RULINGS

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today welcomed the rulings made yesterday by the panels established under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) that the US' imposition of global tariffs on steel and aluminium imports is inconsistent with WTO rules.

The Hong Kong SAR Government said the panels' rulings clearly showed that the US abused the concept of national security with the sole aim to politicise economic and trade issues.

As a staunch supporter of the rules-based multilateral trading system, it strongly urged the US to fulfil its obligations as a WTO member and withdraw the erroneous measures as earliest as possible.

Since March 23, 2018, the US, allegedly for national security reasons, has imposed tariffs of 25% and 10% on steel and aluminium imports respectively on a global scale. This measure applies to Hong Kong and only certain economies are excluded.

As a matter of fact, there is only a minimal amount of aluminium products exported from Hong Kong to the US, and there are no local steel products exported to the US. Such minimal exports cannot be threatening or damaging the US' national security.

The Hong Kong SAR Government has been following up on the issue through various channels, opposing the unreasonable and unjust measures taken by the US.

On the bilateral level, apart from filing formal representations to the US administration to express its opposition, the Hong Kong SAR Government also urged the US to exclude Hong Kong from the subject tariff measures.

Meanwhile, on the multilateral level, in response to the requests made by China, India, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey, the WTO DSB established panels in 2019 to examine the disputes, with Hong Kong participating as a third party. The Hong Kong SAR Government stated its strong opposition to the US' implementation of the tariff measures concerned.

The Hong Kong SAR Government said it will continue to closely monitor and follow up on the development of the issue.

It will also maintain communication with the industry through various channels, review the situation, consider and take corresponding policies and actions to safeguard Hong Kong's trade interests and rights.

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