Economic

FORUM

A New Transatlantic Trade War?

Six months after the Doha agreement on a new round of talks to liberalise world trade, tension is mounting between the EU and the US, the world's two major trading powers, giving rise to fears of a full-blown transatlantic trade war and a new wave of global protectionism. The contributors to this Forum look at the causes of, and possible remedies for, this development, taking economic, legal and political aspects into consideration.

Richard Senti'

Issues Surrounding the US-EU Steel Conflict

F

aced with the misery and destitution of the war just ended, the founding fathers of the new system for regulating world trade found in their Proposal for Expansion of World Trade and Employment (November 1945) that: "The fundamental choice is whether countries will struggle against each other for wealth and power, or work together for security and mutual advantage." Any new conflict arising between the major trading partners confronts them anew with this choice. This article on the international steel dispute which broke out in early March aims to sketch the development of the trade feud over time and then, to critically assess the procedures chosen by the trading partners and the decisions they have taken, questioning these in the light of the world trading rules currently in operation. Timeline 5 June 2001: US President George W. Bush announces a comprehensive initiative to respond to the challenges facing the US steel industry. As part of that initiative, President Bush directs the US Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick to request the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to initiate an investigation under section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 into the effect of steel imports on the US steel industry. 22 June 2001: Trade Representative Zoellick calls upon the ITC to clarify "whether certain steel products are being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious...