Trade Remedies

Outline

This entry examines the main provisions of the US and other states antidumping, countervailing and escape clause laws and regula­tions and their relationship to the rules and provisions of the WTO and NAFTA. Governments have found these very detailed provisions governing particular aspects of international trade both helpful and problematic.

Topics

Following a brief introduction of the basic concepts and procedures involved, the entry considers a number of specific antidumping, countervailing duty and escape clause cases, tracing the origins of the problem the remedy is meant to address, the nature of the complaints and defenses, the very detailed pro­cedures and information pursued, and the extent to which the procedures did – or did not – address the problem. It is important to consider the WTO rules involved in the various aspects of each case, to understand the interaction between domestic and interna­tional rules and procedures.

Topics, therefore, include:

• Fair and Unfair Trade
• Maintaining political support for the economic objective of trade liberalization
• The safeguards system – origins, evolution, demise
• Dispute Settlement and Unfair Trade
• Regulatory capture and rent seeking
• The antidumping system – why it exists, how it works, who benefits, who gets hurt
• Use and abuse of trade remedies
• The countervailing duty system – why it exists, how it works, who benefits, who gets hurt.
• The interrelationship between domestic law and practice and international rules

Further Reading

• Richard Boltuck and Robert E. Litan, “America’s ‘Unfair’ Trade Laws,” in Boltuck and Litan, eds., Down in the Dumps: Administration of the Unfair Trade Laws (Washington: Brookings, 1991)
• James Bovard, The Fair Trade Fraud (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
• Pietro S. Nivola, Regulating Unfair Trade (Washington; Brookings Institution, 1992), 1-68.
• John H. Jackson, “Dumping in International Trade: Its Meaning and Context,” in Jackson and Edwin Vermulst, eds., Antidumping Law and Practice (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989)
• Alan V. Deardorff, “Economic Perspectives on Antidumping Law,” in John H. Jackson and Edwin Vermulst, eds., Antidumping Law and Practice (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989)
• Tracy Murray, “The Administration of the Antidumping Duty Law by the Department of Commerce,” in Richard Boltuck and Robert E. Litan, eds., Down in the Dumps: Administration of the Unfair Trade Laws (Washington: Brookings, 1991)
• Thomas J. Prusa, “An Overview of the Impact of U.S. Unfair Trade Laws,” in Beatriz Leycegui, William Robson, and Dahlia Stein, eds., Trading Punches: Trade Remedy Law and Dis­putes Under NAFTA (Washington: National Planning Association, 1996)
• Pietro S. Nivola, Regulating Unfair Trade (Washington; Brookings Institution, 1992)
• John H. Jackson, The World Trading System: Law and Policy of International Economic Relations (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989)
• Colleen Morton, “Subsidies Negotiations and the Politics of Trade,,” Canada-U.S. Outlook, vol. 1, No. (Washington: National Planning Association)
• James Bovard, The Fair Trade Fraud (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
• Stanley Metzger, Lowering Non-Tariff Barriers (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1974)
• Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Joanna Shelton Erb, Subsidies in International Trade (Washington: Institute for Inernational Economics, 1984)
• Rodney deC. Grey, United States Trade Policy Legislation: A Canadian View (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1984)
• Michael Finger, “Subsidies and Countervailing Duties,” in P. K. M. Tharaken, Policy Implications of Antidumping Measures (New York Elsevier Science Publishing, 1991)
• 10. Alan M. Rugman and Andrew D. M. Anderson, Administered Protection in America (London: Croom Helm, 1987)
• Terence P. Stewart, “Administration of the Antidumping Law: A Different Perspective,” in Richard Boltuck and Robert E. Litan, eds., Down in the Dumps: Administration of the Unfair Trade Laws (Washington: Brookings, 1991)
• Pietro S. Nivola, Regulating Unfair Trade (Washington; Brookings Institution, 1992)
• James Bovard, The Fair Trade Fraud (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
• Stanley Metzger, Lowering Non-Tariff Barriers (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1974)
• N. David Palmeter, “The Antidumping Law: A Legal and Administrative Nontariff Barrier,” in Richard Boltuck and Robert E. Litan, eds., Down in the Dumps: Administration of the Unfair Trade Laws (Washington: Brookings, 1991)
• Gary N. Horlick, “The United States Antidumping System,” in John H. Jackson and Edwin Vermulst, eds., Antidumping Law and Practice (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989)
• Jean-François Bellis, “The EEC Antidumping System,” in John H. Jackson and Edwin Vermulst, eds., Antidumping Law and Practice (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989)
• Brian Hindley, “The Economics of Dumping and Antidumping Action: Is There a Baby in the Bathwater?” in P. K. M. Tharaken, Policy Implications of Antidumping Measures (New York Elzevier Science Publishing, 1991)
• William Robson, Dahlia Stein, and Rafael Fernandez de Castro, “What’s the Fight About: An Ovreview of Trade Disputes in North America,” in Beatriz Leycegui, William Robson, and Dahlia Stein, eds., Trading Punches: Trade Remedy Law and Dis­putes Under NAFTA (Washington: National Planning Association, 1996)
• Thomas M. Boddez and Michael J. Trebilcock, Unfinished Business: Reforming Trade Remedy Laws in North America (Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute, 1993)
• Pietro Nivola, “Trade Policy: Refereeing the Playing Field,” in Thomas E. Mann, ed., A Question of Balance: The President, the Congress and Foreign Policy (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1990)
• Pietro S. Nivola, Regulating Unfair Trade (Washington; Brookings Institution, 1992)
• Tyson, Laura D’Andrea, Who’s Bashing Whom? Trade Conflict in High-Technology Industries (Washington: Institute for International Economics, 1992)
• Robert E. Baldwin and Michael O. Moore, “Political Aspects of the Administration of the Trade Remedy Laws,” in Richard Boltuck and Robert E. Litan, eds., Down in the Dumps: Administration of the Unfair Trade Laws (Washington: Brookings, 1991)
• Gary N. Horlick and Eleanor C. Shea, “Alternatives to National Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws: Are They Feasible or Appropriate in the Context of NAFTA?” in Beatriz Leycegui, William Robson, and Dahlia Stein, eds., Trading Punches: Trade Remedy Law and Dis­putes Under NAFTA (Washington: National Planning Association, 1996)
• Thomas M. Boddez and Michael J. Trebilcock, Unfinished Business: Reforming Trade Remedy Laws in North America (Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute, 1993)
• Willam Davey, Pine and Swine: Dispute Settlement under the Canada-US FTA (Ottawa: Centre for Trade Policy and Law, 1996)
• Rodney deC. Grey, United States Trade Policy Legislation: A Canadian View (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1984)
• Ronald A. Cass and Richard D. Boltuck, “Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Law: The Mirage of Equitable International Competition,” in Jagdish Bhagwati and Robert E. Hudec, eds., Fair Trade and Harmonization, volume 2: Legal Analysis (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1996)