US triumphs over India in trade dispute at the WTO

The United States on Tuesday touted a victory in a major trade dispute with India over poultry imports.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman said a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel found that India’s ban on products such as poultry meat, eggs and live pigs violated numerous global trade rules because they were imposed without sufficient scientific evidence that the products risked spreading avian flu.

{mosads}“The WTO panel agreed with the U.S. case that India lacks any scientific basis to restrict U.S. agricultural products, including U.S. poultry products,” Froman said.

U.S. officials said they had not heard from the Indian government on whether the country plans to appeal the decision.

“Our expectation with any trading partner is that they will comply with the decision,” an official said.

Under WTO rules, the report would be adopted within 60 days unless an appeal is filed.

If India appeals, there is a four-month process. If the WTO appellate panel again sides with the United States then India would have a “reasonable time” to implement the decision.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), vice chairman of House Agriculture Committee, said that the announcement sends a strong signal that the U.S. won’t let WTO member countries erect trade barriers on flimsy arguments.

“Today’s announcement sends a strong message that the United States will demand a level playing field for U.S. grown and made products in the international marketplace and that the WTO will not tolerate member countries imposing artificial trade barriers,” he told reporters on a conference call.

“This ruling opens the door for increased market access of U.S. livestock products, including poultry, which plays a key role in Virginia’s economy.”

Trade officials said that the win helps in other cases because it shows that the United States will follow through on challenges to the WTO. The U.S. won all of its claims in the case.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said he joined Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) in December 2011 in sending a letter to former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk asking trade officials to pursue action with the WTO over the poultry export restrictions. He said the ruling would mean a “great deal” to Georgia’s economy.

Coons, similarly, tweeted Tuesday that the “WTO ruling against India’s ban on U.S. poultry is great news for Delaware.”

“Still a few more steps, but really important progress,” he said.

The U.S. poultry industry estimates that exports to India of only poultry meat could easily exceed $300 million a year once all of India’s restrictions are removed.

“We also recognize that open free and fair trade is a key component to any comprehensive approach to global food safety, especially with growing world populations and finite natural resources and the challenge of a changing climate,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

In challenging India, the USTR argued that there had not been an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the United States since 2004. Meanwhile, during that same period, India experienced more than 90 outbreaks, the agency said.

The dispute has been raging for more than seven years, with the U.S. filing a case at the WTO in March 2012.

This is the fourth major WTO victory for the United States this year.

The WTO panel said that India breached its obligations under the sanitary and phytosanitary measures and that India’s restrictions:

• “arbitrarily discriminate against U.S. products because India blocks imports while not similarly blocking domestic products;
•  constitute a disguised restriction on international trade;
• are more trade restrictive than necessary since India could reasonably adopt international standards for the control of avian influenza instead of imposing an import ban.”

Updated at 2:12 p.m.