If Japan goes through with its threat to lodge a complaint with the world trade body, it could push WTO jurists to make important new rulings on the conditions and extent to which countries can take anti-trade actions to protect life and health.
New US and EU tariffs and other restrictions on ‘dirty’ steel and aluminium could presage a climate-focused trade war. China can help avoid this and boost the climate change fight by pressing the WTO to take up the steel overcapacity issue.
There has long been tension in WTO intellectual property rules between exclusive ownership of new knowledge and the need for broad public access.