The US on Friday ratcheted up pressure on India, blocking a request from New Delhi that calls for allowing a World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel to determine whether India has removed the mandatory domestic content requirements and other restrictive measures imposed on imported solar cells and solar modules, according to people familiar with the development.
On 23 January, India filed a first-time request for establishing what is called a WTO compliance panel to determine whether its measures to do away with the illegal domestic content requirements are in line with the rulings and recommendations issued by the trade body. India’s request for the compliance panel came after the US announced trade retaliatory measures against New Delhi in the solar dispute on 20 December 2017 without ascertaining whether India has removed all the restrictive measures on the imported solar cells and solar modules.
At a dispute settlement body meeting on Friday, India said it “considers that in the event of any disagreement between the parties with respect to the existence or consistency with a covered agreement of measures taken to comply with the recommendations and rulings (of the WTO), the logical course of action is to first have recourse to Article 21.5 of the DSU,” according to a person who asked not to be identified. Read More…
