US says ready to confer with China, Canada on WTO disputes

GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.S. mission told China and Canada it was ready to confer with its officials in Geneva after those two countries filed trade disputes in response to new tariffs, World Trade Organization documents showed on Tuesday.

Canada requested consultations - the first step in a WTO trade dispute - earlier this month in response to "unjustified tariffs" imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month.

China launched a dispute after Trump tariffs on Chinese goods in February. Both countries have since introduced retaliatory tariffs in moves that Washington raised in the WTO documents circulated on Tuesday.

"It is specious for China to invoke dispute settlement for an alleged breach of WTO rules while China itself apparently chooses to breach WTO rules by unilaterally determining that a breach has occurred," the U.S. statement said. It produced an identical statement on Canada.

Engaging in dialogue is a normal part of the WTO dispute settlement system, which can take years to resolve cases.

Still, some trade delegates said they saw the move by Washington as a good sign given high tensions between WTO members currently.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Miranda Murray)

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