Russia will notify the WTO of its plan to retaliate against the US.

Illustration: LA Times

On May 18 local time, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said that the US side refused to hold consultations with Russia at the WTO forum on imposing restrictions on steel and aluminum imports, affirming that such measures are not special protection measures.

In such a situation, Russia will notify the WTO of its intention to take countermeasures to restrict steel and aluminum imports.

“In response to Russia’s request for consultations, the United States confirmed that it does not consider its restrictions to be special safeguard measures and is not ready to consult with Russia within the framework of WTO procedures on special safeguard measures. All other WTO members that have made such requests have received the same answer,” the ministry told TASS news agency.

“In this regard, we plan to notify the WTO Council for Trade in Goods of our intention to take such steps. 30 days after the above notification, Russia will have the right to introduce retaliatory measures corresponding to the losses caused by the US restrictions on Russian steel and aluminum exports,” the ministry affirmed.

Earlier, on April 19, Russia requested consultations with the US after claiming that Washington had decided to establish special protection measures, such as a special import tax of 25% on non-ferrous metallurgical products and 10% on aluminum products starting from March 23, 2018.