THE United States has appealed against the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) panel report that had asked Washington to revise a series of duties imposed on South Korea's steel products and power transformers. The duties had been imposed under then-US President Mr Barack Obama.

The US notified the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body on Friday of its decision to appeal the panel report that was circulated to all members on January 21. This pushed the case into a legal limbo as the WTO lacks a functioning Appellate Body as the US administration under President Mr Donald Trump had blockedthe appointments of judgesto the body.

"Given the ongoing lack of agreement among WTO Members regarding the filling of Appellate Body vacancies, there is no Appellate Body Division available at the current time to deal with the appeal," said the WTO.

The US move came after the WTO panel said that the tariffs imposed on imports of certain South Korean corrosion-resistant steel products, cold-rolled steel flat products, hot-rolled steel flat products, and large power transformers were violating the rules and need to be revised.

Washington had applied the Adverse Facts Available (AFA) provision allowing them to levy extremely high anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on these products if an accused company does not provide the data demanded by the authorities.

The three-person WTO panel found the US Department of Commerce failed to take into account all the information available when it imposed the tariffs.

South Korea had filed the lawsuit with the WTO in February, 2018, as the two countries failed to reach a consensus on their differences.