Venezuela’s bid to seek WTO review of sanctions blocked by U.S.
The United States on Friday prevented Venezuela from continuing with its dispute over Washington’s sanctions at the World Trade Organization, seizing on the issue to highlight its rejection of Nicolas Maduro as the country’s legitimate president.
Venezuela had planned to request a WTO panel formation to rule on whether sanctions imposed by the United States in 2018 and 2019 breached global trading rules.
A Geneva-based trade official said that the refusal by Venezuela for the request to be removed that was asked by the United States prompted the trade body to suspend a meeting about this and other trade matters at the beginning.
U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Adam Hodge said the panel request was unlawful because the Maduro administration did not speak on behalf of the Venezuelan people.
He said in a statement that the United States will reject any effort by Maduro to misuse the WTO to attack U.S. sanctions aimed at restoring human rights and democracy to Venezuela.
A senior U.S. official said that the U.S. action was aimed to make it clear that President Joe Biden and his administration would continue its hard-line position against Maduro and seek to pressure him to hold free and fair elections.
Biden’s administration is going on with recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.
Last month, the White House said it was in “no rush” to lift U.S. sanctions on Venezuela but would consider loosening them if Maduro took confidence-building steps showing he is ready to adjust seriously with the opposition.
Venezuela refers to Washington’s sanctions as “unilateral coercive measures” and blames it for the South American country’s economic woes.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza took on Twitter and said “Sooner rather than later Venezuela will defeat with the law what the United States seeks to impose with force.”
WTO was put in a difficult spot due to Friday’s events, given that the meeting’s suspension also put on hold other disputes and a plea from more than 100 countries to re-establish the WTO’s body that rules on appeals in disputes.
