Should Trade Remedies be Eliminated from WTO: A Response to Tania Voon

This work is a reflection of a critical viewpoint on the academic work of Tania Voon. She argues on the elimination of trade remedies from the multilateral trading system of the World Trade Organization on the basis of various considerations, including on the basis of some lessons from Regional Trade Agreements. The article makes no attempt to strike a balance between consumer and domestic industry interests. Additionally, it must be recognized that eliminating a structural protection mechanism is not always the best course of action because, in a global market such as that of trade, there are numerous players with disparate interests. If trade remedies are eliminated, a void will exist in which there will be nothing to regulate short-term issues, which will also affect the WTO's long-term objectives.

Under Pressure: Intractable Trade Conflicts and Korea – Pneumatic Valves

The Appellate Body (AB) report in Korea–Pneumatic Valves is among the most structurally complex of recent trade remedies reports. The AB weaves a complicated web to explicate the intricacies of the relationship among the relevant provisions on injury determination in anti-dumping disputes in the midst of a contentious and long-running series of disputes between two close regional trading powers. This Article first examines the Korean investigation and its significance in economic terms. Second, it analyzes the AB's conclusions on Article 6.2 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding regarding the panel request and the significance of the AB's treatment. Third, it studies the AB's comments on the panel's anti-dumping calculations where the AB amplifies its prior pronouncements on the elements of injury and causation. Finally, the Article situates this dispute in the broader political debates playing out both at the AB and between the two disputing parties.

Trade Remedies

What are trade remedies? The term “trade remedies” describes those cases when it is permissible for tariffs to be raised above their bound levels under GATT/WTO rules. As described in Chapter 11, under GATT/WTO auspices members have agreed in MTNs to gain...

Dampak Kebijakan Bea Masuk Tindakan Pengamanan terhadap Proteksi dan Daya Saing Produk Baja Lapis Aluminium Seng

Safeguard measures is a trade remedies policies regulated by World Trade Organization (WTO) to recover loss (injury) suffered by domestic industries as a result of liberalization in international trade, as an instrument to protect and increase competitiveness of domestic industries which are still at infant industry stage. In Indonssia, the steel industry sector is designated as a national priority so that its growth must be maintained. Meanwhile, the import surge phenomenon of flat-rolled products from iron or non-alloy steel has threatened the existence of domestic steel industries which produce similar commodities. The Indonesian government responded by setting the Safeguard Measures policy, with the hope that the industry would make structural adjustments during the imposition period so that its competitiveness could be increased. This study uses monthly import data from January 2012 to December 2018 to determine whether the Safeguard Measures has been effective as a protection instrument. To measure competitiveness, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) method and Trade Specialization Index (TSI) were used. The results of this study show that the policy reduced the import of the same and similar steel products which meant it is effective as an instrument of protection. In addition, there has been an increase in competitiveness even though Indonesia is still a net importer.

The Politics of Trade Adjustment Versus Trade Protection

The United States’ Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program seeks to help workers transition away from jobs lost to import competition. By contrast, trade remedies like antidumping seek to directly reduce the effect of competition at the border. Though they have very different economic effects, we show that trade adjustment and protectionism act as substitutes. Using the first geo-coded measure of US trade protectionist demands, we show that controlling for trade shocks, counties with a history of successful TAA petitions see fewer calls for trade protection. This effect holds when we confine our analysis to the steel industry, a heavy user of antidumping duties. And though they are both means of addressing import exposure, the two policy options have distinct political effects: in particular, successful TAA petitions carry a significant electoral benefit for Democratic candidates. Greater recognition of the substitutability of trade compensation and protectionism would improve governments’ response to import exposure.

The Determination of Causation in the Application of Trade Remedies

In order for one Member to implement trade remedies against another, it must be satisfied that the harm to its domestic industry was the result of imports, rather than some other factor(s). In order for a Member to be satisfied in this way, it must perform both: (1) a causal link analysis, and (2) a non-attribution analysis. In interpreting the relevant provisions concerned with the causal link and non-attribution analysis, the Appellate Body (AB) has consistently found that injury to the domestic industry need not be the product of imports alone – that is, it may be the result of a combination of imports and other factors. Accordingly, many commentators have queried the utility of separating imports from other causal factors at the non-attribution stage. This article argues that these two apparently contradictory positions may be reconciled if they are interpreted such that the causal contribution from imports must reach a minimum threshold, whilst also providing some tolerance for other factors. This article argues in favour of using econometric tests as a means of measuring and separating the causal contributions of imports vis-à-vis other factors and allocating responsibility to each. The article concludes by proposing a three-step non-attribution and causal link analysis.