scholarly journals WTO Panel Rules Against U.S. Claim that Tariffs on Chinese Goods Are Justified as Necessary to Protect “Public Morals”

2021 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-124

On September 15, 2020, a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruled that certain tariffs the United States imposed on Chinese products violated Articles I (most-favored-nation) and II (tariff bindings) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The panel rejected the U.S. attempt to invoke a “public morals” defense pursuant to GATT Article XX, holding that although countries receive substantial deference in defining “public morals,” the United States failed to prove that the tariffs were necessary to achieve its stated public morals objective.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1827-1840
Author(s):  
Flávio Marcelo Rodrigues Bruno

The present research has as its thematic approach, the (in) effectiveness of the decisions of the international commercial court from the recent economic policies for agriculture in the United States in relation to the determinations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the litigation on the granting of subsidies to cotton – Upland Cotton. It is the pretension of this research, to delimit the study of the subject in the sense of demonstrating that the United States continued to have negative impacts on the international market, even though they were defeated in the litigation against Brazil in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. In the litigation of cotton subsidies – Upland Cotton, Brazil and the United States enter into controversy regarding the granting of this instrument of economic policy by the U.S. government to an industry in which Brazil has comparative advantages and competitive production, especially in international trade. The WTO ruling on the case has proved that the U.S. economic policy on the use of subsidies, in particular those granted to agriculture, constitute a protectionist practice that interferes negatively with international trade. An interdisciplinary legal analysis from the economic and political point of view is essential in the context of international trade relations that have a profound impact on U.S. trade policy practices.


2004 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungjoon Cho

On August 30, 2002, the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized the European Communities (EC) to suspend its tariff concessions and other obligations toward the United States to the extent of U.S. $4 billion for the latter’s failure to comply with the Appellate Body’s decision that the United States had violated the WTO rules, in particular, the WTO Subsidy Code by providing the prohibited subsidies to foreign sales corporations (FSCs) in the form of tax breaks (the FSC Article 22.6 Report). The sheer scale of the EC’s suspension in response to the U.S. violation is unprecedented, far surpassing the suspensions authorized in two previous cases that invoked the WTO enforcement mechanism, Banana III and Hormones. At first glance, this dramatic finale for such a high-profile case might be welcomed as an impressive revelation of the real achievement of the WTO system equipped with teeth, unlike its predecessor the old GATT.


Author(s):  
Douglas A. Irwin

This chapter sets out basic facts about international trade and the U.S. economy. It describes how world trade has expanded rapidly in the recent decades and explains how the development provides the context in which to consider trade policy. The chapter discusses the reasons for the increase in trade and how trade has changed with the fragmentation of production and the increase in trade of intermediate goods. It talks about the state of public opinion on the question of globalization. It also analyzes protectionist policies that directly harm employment in domestic industries by raising production costs in addition to forcing consumers to pay higher price for the products they buy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 200-205
Author(s):  
Kieron O’Hara

This chapter examines the flow of data across borders, in order to support the digital economy. Governments are increasingly treating data as a national asset, which will give economic advantages to foreign companies, while compromising the privacy of citizens. India and other nations in the developing world are concerned that they will be reduced to providing data as raw material and will be forced to import high-value services from tech companies in the United States and China, rather than developing their own digital economies. Initiatives using World Trade Organization agreements to coordinate global trade in data, supported by China and the United States, are examined, but they have not persuaded sceptics, leading to accusations of neo-colonialism. India is leading the holdouts, which may influence the Internet’s future. The ideologies underlying the Four Internets are compared with respect to their views of flows of data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 907-928
Author(s):  
Jaemin Lee

ABSTRACT The new countervailing duty proceeding rule of the United States on exchange rates aims to address currency undervaluation through a subsidy tool under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. As there is no prohibition in the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) making macro-economic policies off-limits from the reach of subsidy norms, exchange rates can be subject to countervailing duty proceedings. However, there are specific requirements to be met under the ASCM and World Trade Organization jurisprudence. Most notably, the new countervailing duty proceeding rule arguably fails to meet the ‘benefit’ analysis requirements. It takes into account the effect that negatively weighs on foreign exporters subject to a countervailing duty proceeding while ignoring the one that positively weighs. This skewed benefit analysis of selective nature is difficult to sustain under the ASCM and its jurisprudence. A more detailed and thorough benefit analysis is needed to make this new scheme work in a World Trade Organization (WTO)–consistent manner. The new countervailing duty rule showcases structural problems addressing macro-economic policies through a subsidy framework.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 158-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Bagwell ◽  
Alan O. Sykes

This study addresses the disputes brought to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the European Communities and the United States concerning certain Indian measures affecting the importation of automobiles and components in the form of “completely knocked down” (CKD) and “semi-knocked down” (SKD) kits. The measures in question originated during a time when India employed extensive import licensing requirements, ostensibly for balance of payments purposes. India’s broad licensing regime was challenged in 1997 by the European Communities and the United States, resulting in a settlement with the European Communities and a ruling in favor of the United States pursuant to which India agreed to abolish its import licensing system. Some restrictions in the automotive sector remained, however,which became the subject of this proceeding.


1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Garth Coffin

Canada and the United States are the world's largest trading partners. The total volume of two-way merchandise trade in 1985 was $165 billion Canadian ($124 billion U.S.). Canadian dependence on U.S. markets has grown to the point that nearly 80% of our exports are destined for our southern neighbor. By the same token, more than 70% of Canada's imports originate in the U.S. That volume represents 20% of total exports from the U.S., the largest proportion going to any individual country. Obviously, trade relations between Canada and the U.S. are very important to both countries. Indeed, given their combined role in total world trade, the importance of trade relations between them goes beyond whatever it might be to those two countries alone.


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Skala

The collapse of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Round of talks without achieving new health services liberalization presents an important opportunity to evaluate the wisdom of granting further concessions to international investors in the health sector. The continuing deterioration of the U.S. health system and the primacy of reform as an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign make clear the need for a full range of policy options for addressing the national health crisis. Yet few commentators or policymakers realize that existing WTO health care commitments may already significantly constrain domestic policy options. This article illustrates these constraints through an evaluation of the potential effects of current WTO law and jurisprudence on the implementation of a single-payer national health insurance system in the United States, proposed incremental national and state health system reforms, the privatization of Medicare, and other prominent health system issues. The author concludes with some recommendations to the U.S. Trade Representative to suspend existing liberalization commitments in the health sector and to interpret current and future international trade treaties in a manner consistent with civilized notions of health care as a universal human right.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Gene M. Grossman ◽  
Petros C. Mavroidis

In United States – Countervailing Measures Concerning Certain Products from the European Communities (WTO Doc. WT/DS212/QB/R, henceforth Certain Products), the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization was called upon to revisit the issue of whether the United States can legally impose countervailing duties following the privatization of state-owned enterprises that had received non-recurring subsidies. In twelve cases, the United States Department of Commerce (USDOC) had applied either the “gamma method” or the “same-person method” in assessing the impact of a change of ownership on the continued existence of a benefit from a countervailable subsidy. The European Communities challenged the legality of these methods.


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