GENEVA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo on Friday called for restraint and urgent dialogue among members as the best path forward to resolve problems following U.S. moves on steel and aluminum tariffs.
"I encourage members to continue working through the WTO's many forums and mechanisms to deal with their concerns and explore potential solutions," said Azevedo in a written statement.
His remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs came in for criticism during a WTO meeting in Geneva, according to trade officials.
China and Russia began the debate on the Section 232 investigations, conducted by the U.S. Commerce Department, and on tariffs measures around imports of steel and aluminum, that drew strong responses from WTO members during a Friday meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods.
The European Unio (EU), Brazil, Japan and Australia, were among those criticizing the U.S. tariffs measures during the debates.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday approved the suspension of much-criticized tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU and six other economies.
The White House said that tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from EU member states, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea are suspended until May 1, 2018.
Trump will decide whether to continue to exempt these countries from the tariffs by the extended deadline.
Recalling that WTO members on Friday's meeting reviewed and discussed "many of the most pressing trade issues of the moment, including a number of the specific tensions that have arisen between different members in recent weeks", Azevedo estimated that "it is positive to see members continuing to use the WTO as a place to discuss these issues."
Azevedo warned that "actions taken outside these collective processes greatly increase the risk of escalation in a confrontation that will have no winners, and which could quickly lead to a less stable trading system."
Disrupting trade flows will jeopardize the global economy at a time when economic recovery, though fragile, has been increasingly evident around the world, he noted.
The WTO is responsible for overseeing the rules of international commerce and it facilitates trade negotiations among its members, which have increased from 123 in 1994 to 164 in 2018.
