U.S. Trade Sanctions Criticized by GATT : Commerce: The watchdog group expressed concern over unilateral actions to settle disputes.

Unilateral U.S. action to settle trade disputes is worrying America’s trading partners and causing them to wonder if Washington really wants to abide by international rules, the world commerce watchdog GATT said today.

Much anxiety has been aroused by the way in which the United States applies provisions in its 1988 Trade Act that allow it to retaliate directly against countries the Administration considers to be unfair traders, the GATT secretariat said in a review of U.S. trade policies.

It noted that the law permits the United States to act without getting the approval of its partners in the 96-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as provided by GATT rules and that retaliatory moves do not have to be consistent with GATT procedures.

The United States has targeted Brazil, India and Japan as unfair partners under the so-called “Super 301” section of the law.

The 176-page report cited trade sanctions the United States imposed earlier this year on the European Community in a dispute over hormones in U.S. beef and against Brazil last year in a row over pirating of pharmaceutical patents.

“Trading partners . . . have seen these actions as a lack of commitment on the part of the United States to multilateral rules and procedures,” the report said.

“The use made of the authority given to the United States Administration over the coming months will continue to be a matter of serious concern,” it added.

It noted that Washington has declared its intention to seek multilateral solutions to difficulties with its trading partners within the Uruguay Round of trade-liberalizing negotiations being conducted under GATT auspices.

All GATT member states are concerned about the consistency of this approach with bilateral or unilateral initiatives taken by the United States outside the GATT framework to promote its own trading interests, the report said.

Together with a 111-page report by the U.S. government and a 433-page annex documenting legislation, procedures and government actions, the GATT document was submitted to a private session of the trade body’s ruling council.

The United States was the third country to have its trade policies scrutinized under a GATT review procedure introduced this year. Australia was examined Tuesday and Morocco on Wednesday.