Overview

• The United States has formally informed the WTO that its steel and aluminum tariffs are based on national security concerns under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
• India requested consultations under the WTO’s Safeguards Agreement, arguing that the US failed to notify the WTO Committee on Safeguards about the measures.
• The US rejected India’s request, stating that the tariffs are not safeguard measures and therefore do not fall under the scope of the Safeguards Agreement.
• The tariffs, initially imposed in 2018 and revised in February 2025 with unlimited duration, are being maintained under the security exception allowed by GATT 1994.
• This dispute follows similar challenges by other WTO members, including the EU, which received a comparable response from the US regarding these tariffs.