Diplomacy and the Settlement of International Trade Disputes

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1358-1389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Gray ◽  
Philip Potter

How do countries settle disputes in the shadow of the law? Even in the presence of legalized dispute settlement, countries still rely on diplomatic channels to resolve conflicts. But it can be difficult to assess diplomacy’s impact on dispute resolution because those channels tend to be opaque. We present both an original theory of the impact of diplomacy on dispute resolution and a novel measure of diplomacy. If countries with close or, conversely, distant relationships use legal channels for dispute resolution, diplomacy will have little impact on dispute settlement; resorting to legal recourse among friends or adversaries likely means that the dispute is intractable. However, diplomacy can increase the chances of settlement between countries with moderate levels of affinity. We test this argument using a protocol-based proxy for diplomatic interactions—gifts given at the occasion of meetings between diplomatic counterparts—that would otherwise be difficult to observe. Using the case of the United States and its disputes in the World Trade Organization, we find support for our argument. This suggests that even when countries resort to legalized methods of dispute settlement, bilateral dealmaking still plays an important role.

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.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-504 ◽  

Consistent with President Trump's America First trade agenda, his administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in early March of 2018, triggering various responses and challenges. Countries have followed through on early objections to the tariffs through retaliatory tariffs and challenges in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and steel importers have challenged the legality of these tariffs under U.S. domestic law. At the same time, these tariffs have been revised multiple times, either to delay the implementation period for certain countries seeking exemptions or to permanently grant exemptions to countries who reached negotiated arrangements with the United States.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.11) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Chitra Bajpai ◽  
Priyanka Malik ◽  
Chitra Krishnan ◽  
Seema Sahai ◽  
Richa Goel ◽  
...  

The World Trade Organization is a platform which is primarily responsible for the rules and regulation related to the world trade for the member nations. This research paper is an effort to measure the effectiveness of the WTO as a Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). In relation to that the first objective of the research paper is to understand the nature of the International Trade Dispute among the member nations. The second objective of the research paper is to analyze certain International Trade Disputes which were reported to the WTO. The third objective of the research paper is to find out some common features among the analyzed cases.   


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 316-321
Author(s):  
Richard H. Steinberg

The Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing a crisis. Appointment of AB members requires a consensus of the Dispute Settlement Body (comprised of all WTO members), and the United States has been blocking a consensus on further appointments since Donald J. Trump became the president. Without new appointments, the ranks of the AB have been diminishing as AB members’ terms have been expiring. If this continues (and many expect the United States to continue blocking a consensus on appointments), then in December 2019, through attrition, the number of AB members will fall below the threshold necessary to render decisions, at which point the AB will cease to function.


2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-525

Over the last few years, the United States has been pressuring the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reform the Appellate Body by refusing proposals to fill vacancies. On December 10, 2019, the terms of two Appellate Body members expired, leaving one member left for the seven-member body. This has brought new appeals to a standstill, as an appeal from a panel established by the Dispute Settlement Body must be heard by three Appellate Body members. In February of 2020, the United States elaborated on its complaints about the Appellate Body in a report published by the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In the spring of 2020, in response to the continued U.S. resistance to filling vacancies on the Appellate Body, a group of WTO members established an interim arrangement to handle appeals through arbitration. Also in the spring of 2020, the United States described as invalid a recent Appellate Body report regarding a dispute between Canada and the United States, asserting that none of the three persons who issued the report were in fact bona fide Appellate Body members.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Laode Muhamad Fathun

This paper will explain the problem of dispute in international trade and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a mediator in the dispute. Economic globalization in the form of international trade relations through free market slogan has a positive and negative impact. That condition’s are the consequences of countries that become members of the WTO to create a competitive market. Trade protectionism is an unfair form of anti-free market policy in the international market. This policy is done to protect a country’s domestic market but on the other hand reduces the spirit of the free market. Protection is often done by taking into account administrative documents, quota counts, product certification, health aspect, labor protection as a way where the state protects its domestic market. One of the policy examples has been made by the United States in practice of importing meat from Canada where WTO as a mediator and international trade regime becomes the dominant actor in the negotiation process. As a result, the United States cannot prove the state's allegation against Canadian meat imports after a special panel was conducted in a session at the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). Therefore the protectionist policy must be rational and accountable so that no country will be harmed by its impact either in the micro scale (consumer) or the macro scale (country). Keywords: Economic Development, Trade Globalization, Free Trade, Trade Barriers, Protectionism, WTO.   Abstrak   Makalah ini akan menjelaskan masalah perselisihan dalam perdagangan internasional dan peran World Trade Organization (WTO) sebagai mediator dalam perselisihan tersebut. Globalisasi ekonomi dalam bentuk hubungan perdagangan internasional melalui slogan pasar bebas telah memberikan dampak positif maupun negatif. Kondisi itu merupakan konsekuensi dari negara-negara yang menjadi anggota WTO untuk menciptakan pasar yang kompetitif. Proteksionisme perdagangan merupakan bentuk kebijakan anti-pasar bebas yang tidak adil dalam pasar internasional. Kebijakan ini dilakukan untuk melindungi pasar dalam negeri yang di lain pihak mengurangi semangat pasar bebas. Perlindungan sering dilakukan dengan menerapkan aturan dokumen administrasi, jumlah kuota, sertifikasi produk, aspek kesehatan, proteksi tenaga kerja sebagai cara negara melindungi pasar domestiknya. Salah satu contoh adalah kebijakan yang pernah dilakukan oleh Amerika Serikat terhadap impor daging dari Kanada dimana WTO sebagai mediator dan rezim perdagangan internasional menjadi aktor dominan dalam proses negosiasi. Hasilnya Amerika Serikat tidak bisa membuktikan tuduhan terhadap impor daging Kanada setelah dilakukan panel khusus dalam sidang di Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) atau Badan Penyelesaian Persengketaan WTO. Jadi kebijakan proteksionis harus rasional dan bisa dipertanggungjawabkan sehingga tidak ada satu negara pun yang dirugikan oleh dampak kebijakan tersebut baik pada skala mikro (konsumen) maupun skala makro (negara). Kata kunci: Perkembangan Ekonomi, Globalisasi Perdagangan, Perdagangan Bebas, Hambatan Perdagangan, Proteksionisme, WTO


2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 822-831 ◽  

With only three remaining members of what is supposed to be a seven-member body, the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Appellate Body may soon cease to function. Since 2016, the United States has blocked the reappointment of Appellate Body members and rejected over a dozen proposals to launch selection processes that could fill the remaining vacancies. As a lead reason for these blocks, the United States has cited concerns about the practice whereby members whose terms have expired continue to serve on appeals to which they were previously appointed. On December 10, 2019, the terms of two Appellate Body members will expire, leaving only one member remaining. Because the WTO's dispute settlement process requires three Appellate Body members for each appeal, WTO members will be unable to make any new appeals by this year's end unless a solution emerges to the current impasse.


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