1.   Another option is for the U.S. to take the case to the WTO and let a dispute settlement panel decide the outcome.

2.   Argentina removed the specific footwear duties immediately after the WTO dispute panel was established this January to investigate them.

3.   A dispute panel made up of unelected trade specialists rules on the law.

4.   A disputes panel would then be set up.

5.   A World Trade Organization dispute panel has ruled that a United States tax subsidy for businesses violated international trade rules.

6.   A World Trade Organization dispute panel sided with the European Union on Thursday in a challenge to American duties imposed to counter state subsidies for British-produced steel.

7.   After receiving the complaint, the WTO will form a dispute settlement panel to hear the complaints.

8.   But the threat is mostly fictitious -- as a ruling this week by such a dispute panel convincingly proves.

9.   Dispute panels generally deal with tariffs and other specific trade barriers.

10.   Despite that, the United States should do nothing to undermine impartial dispute panels, of which it has been the overwhelming beneficiary.