In one of the most high-profile and potentially explosive cases to come to the WTO, the three-person adjudicating panel said the U.S. measures were inconsistent with WTO rules and recommended the United States bring them into conformity. The United States said it strongly rejected the "flawed" interpretation and conclusions of the panel. Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminium in 2018, using Section 232 of a 1962 act that allows the president to restrict imports if they are threatening national security. The case hinged on the exemption from global trade rules the WTO allows in cases of national security. The central U.S. argument was that national security is for countries themselves to judge and certainly not something to be assessed by three WTO adjudicators sitting in Geneva.

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