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US wrongly interprets Russian duties, Economy Ministry says

The US says Russia does not set extra duties for goods of other WTO members

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The United States has a wrong interpretation of the nature of duties introduced by Russia for a range of US goods because Russia acts within WTO norms, press service of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development says on Wednesday.

The US requested consultations with Russia within WTO framework concerning extra duties on import of certain US goods introduced by Russia in July. The US says Russia does not set extra duties for goods of other WTO members.

"The US wrongly interprets the nature of measures taken by the Russian side. We act within the framework of WTO agreement on special protection measures, which makes possible to compensate damages from "special protection measures" taken by another country [the US in this case]," the Ministry says in a comment.

"The United States has requested WTO dispute consultations with the Russian Federation concerning additional duties applied by Russia on certain imports of US goods," WTO said earlier on its website.

The request for consultations is the first step in the claim procedure within WTO framework. If consultations fail to bear fruit, a conciliation panel will be formed.

"The United States claims that the additional duties are inconsistent with provisions of the WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 because Russia does not impose the additional duties on like products from other WTO members and appears to be applying duty rates on US imports greater than those set out in Russia's WTO schedule of concessions," WTO noted.

Russia introduced extra duties of 25-40% for US goods as a response measure to steel and aluminum duties imposed by the US earlier. Russian duties cover certain kinds of road construction machinery, oil and gas equipment and optic fiber.