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View all search resultsEU appeals WTO ruling in Indonesia steel standoff
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The back garden of the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva are pictured on Sept. 15, 2025. (JP/Deni Ghifari)
T
he European Union appealed Monday a World Trade Organization ruling faulting it for mistakes in setting tariffs on Indonesia stainless steel products, according to a Geneva-based trade official.
With no functioning appeals body at the WTO, the move basically suspends indefinitely the ruling handed down by the organization’s Dispute Settlement Body last month.
Indonesia had requested in 2023 that a WTO dispute settlement panel examine the countervailing and anti-dumping measures Brussels imposed on imports of its stainless-steel cold-rolled flat products.
The panel concluded last month that the European Commission had "acted inconsistently with certain provisions of the SCM Agreement", referring to the WTO accord setting rules concerning government subsidies and measures other countries can take in response.
It found fault in how the EU calculated subsidies and recommended that Brussels "bring its measures into conformity with its obligations under the SCM Agreement".
The EU told the DSB Monday that it had to appeal the ruling to address legal errors in the panel ruling, according to the Geneva-based trade official.
But it remains unclear what will happen to the case now, since the WTO's appeals tribunal -- also known as the supreme court of world trade -- has been frozen for years.
Washington brought the WTO's own Appellate Body to a grinding halt in December 2019 through years of blocking the appointment of new judges.
By filing appeals into a void, countries can in effect block others' ability to move forward and request financial compensation for activities deemed illegal by the DSB.
Indonesia on Monday described the EU move as "appalling", according to the Geneva-based trade official.
The EU stressed that it had repeatedly invited Indonesia to join the so-called Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) -- an alternative appellate process counting dozens of members that has allowed some cases to move forward.
But since it had not done so, the EU had argued that it had no choice but to turn to the paralyzed Appellate Body, according to the trade official.
