A Report on Trade Remedies and Rules of Application

Authors

Charles O. Verrill Jr., Duke Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2009

Keywords

trade remedies, GATT, anti-dumping, zeroing

Abstract

Document presented for discussion at the OECD Directorate for Science Technology & Industry, Steel Committee Meeting, 10-11 December 2009.

The GATT authorizes three trade remedies that can be utilized by members of the WTO to address troublesome imports: antidumping measures and countervailing duties, which are authorized by Article VI, and safeguards which are authorized by Article XIX. Detailed roadmaps for the application of these measures were adopted in the Uruguay Round implementing agreements that each WTO member is required to observe in applying trade measures against imports from other WTO member countries.

This Report summarizes the rules governing application of these three trade remedies and points out the major areas where there are proposals to amend the antidumping and countervailing duty implementing agreements in the Rules Negotiations that are one of the four main pillars of the DOHA Round which has been underway since the Development Agenda was agreed to by WTO members in November 2001.

There is also a discussion of special rules that apply when these trade remedies are applied against imports from nonmarket economies. The discussion focuses on China which is not only the most frequent subject of antidumping and countervailing duty actions by WTO members, but is also a frequent user of the antidumping measure and has recently initiated countervailing duty investigations of imports from the United States.

China is in a unique situation as a result of special provision in its WTO Accession Protocol concerning the application of these measures to its exports. The Accession Protocol also authorizes WTO members to adopt safeguards applicable uniquely to Chinese imports, such as those that were recently applied by the United States in a case involving Chinese passenger vehicle and light truck tires.

Citation

U.N. Doc DSTI/SU/SC(2009)37