GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States blocked Venezuela from proceeding with its dispute over Washington’s sanctions at the World Trade Organization on Friday, arguing it did not come from Venezuela’s legitimate government.
Venezuela was planning to request the formation of a WTO panel to rule on whether sanctions the United States imposed in 2018 and 2019 breached global trading rules.
The United States asked for the request to be removed, which Venezuela refused to do, prompting a meeting about this and other trade matters to be suspended at the start, a Geneva-based trade official said.
U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Adam Hodge said the panel request was illegitimate because the administration of President Nicolas Maduro did not speak on behalf of the Venezuelan people.
“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,” he said in a statement.
The Geneva-based official said Peru, Brazil and Colombia supported the U.S. position, while Cuba and Russia said Venezuela had the right to submit its request.
Friday’s events put the WTO in a difficult spot, given the meeting’s suspension also puts on hold other disputes and a request from more than 100 countries to re-establish the WTO’s body that rules on appeals in disputes.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, blocked appointments to the WTO’s Appellate Body, leaving it with too few members to hear cases.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop. Editing by Mark Potter)
