Business Week | By Paul Magnusson | November 24, 2003
Free-traders are cheering the World Trade Organization's Nov. 10 ruling slapping down President George W. Bush's three-year tariffs on imported steel. But there's reason for them to fret, too: The decision is fanning the flames of bipartisan anti-WTO sentiment in Congress that could ultimately lead to America's departure from the 148-nation body.
Senator Max S. Baucus (D-Mont.) has renewed his call for a commission of U.S. judges to review the reasons behind the WTO's string of anti-U.S. decisions. Baucus says the cases are ''under-mining confidence'' in the Geneva-based organization. Many Republicans have long warned that the WTO threatens U.S. sovereignty. Moderate Representative Phil English (R-Pa.) calls its recent decisions ''extraordinarily arbitrary.''
A General Accounting Office report finds the U.S. is the biggest loser in WTO rulings and faces the highest penalties. Recent WTO decisions have authorized Europe to levy penalty tariffs on up to $ 6 billion in U.S. exports.
The WTO still has its defenders, including Senate Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). But even he is angry that it allows judges to receive documents, hear arguments, and deliberate entirely in secret. Congress must vote in 2005 on whether to stay in the WTO.Business Week:
