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Trade judges reject Indian textile complaint vs US
June 21, 2003 11:28 IST
A World Trade Organisation panel ruled against India on Friday in a row with the United States over textiles, handing Washington a victory after several high profile trade dispute defeats.
India brought the case against the United States under the WTO's disputes procedures in 2002, charging that new US regulations were blocking its exports of textiles and clothes.
But the three trade judges said India had failed to prove that the regulations, covering so-called rules of origin which are used to set import duties, broke WTO agreements.
"This is an important victory for American trade laws and American textile trade," said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in a statement following announcement of the ruling.
Domestic rules of origin, a frequent bone of contention among the 145 members of the WTO and especially between rich and poorer countries, provide the basis for customs authorities to set the level of import tariff.
The United States has recently suffered a series of prominent defeats in WTO trade disputes, including over tax benefits for exporters and steel import duties, which have stoked complaints in Congress about the Geneva-based trade body.