Rules of Trade Remedies

Since the financial crisis, the topic of opposition towards trade protectionism has become a constant at G20 Summits and a variety of international trade conferences. Various leaders have reiterated their stance which clearly reflects that their countries have experienced the threat of trade protectionism. When it comes to trade protectionism, the first impression that people have may be more related to trade remedy measures. In recent years, the use of trade remedy measures has indeed been a cause for concern. According to statistics, WTO members have initiated 1,160 trade remedy investigations from 2008 to the end of 2012. Among them, 968 were anti-dumping cases, 101 were countervailing cases and 91 were cases on safeguard measures. Trade remedy measures are import restrictions that the WTO allows its members to legally apply. Their normal use does not constitute trade protectionist measures, only when they are overused or misused are they considered trade protectionist measures. The current WTO trade remedy rules system provides corresponding rule protection to protect the domestic industries of importing countries and maintain the export interests of exporting countries. Despite all this, there are still some issues of concern: there is still room for abuse of trade remedy measures; it is necessary to clarify and improve trade remedy rules and efforts have been made and subsequently, actions have been taken with regard to this. The rules negotiations that took place at the WTO Doha Round is one example of such effort. The main objectives for China's active participation in the negotiations are to clarify and push for stricter trade remedy rules, as well as stand against the abuse of trade remedy measures.