Antidumping and the WTO Essay example -- Economy Economics Environment

Antidumping and the WTO While antidumping doesn't get a lot of press, it is certainly one of the biggest issues that the WTO is dealing with today. During the recent WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle, much was mage about protesters who were demanding higher environmental standards or international labor standards. Little was mentioned about antidumping. However, In the midst of the many demonstrators there were steel workers and members of other union organizations like the AFL-CIO who were there to defend US antidumping laws. Antidumping regulation was a major issue for Seattle as it is for the organization of the WTO in general. From the inception of the WTO, there has been controversy over antidumping laws from diverse groups. Some countries feel that other countries place antidumping measures on products that have not really been dumped. Since the 1994 Uruguay Round, many developing nations feel that they have been unfairly targeted for antidumping penalties by the industrialized nations. Count ries such as Japan and South Korea have also called for reforms. The US, being the largest economy in the world tends to be on the receiving end of much of this controversy about its national antidumping laws. Adding to the confusion, not many cases brought to the WTO panels have been settled as of yet. There are many complaints about antidumping procedures, and some economic graphs can be used to demonstrate these complaints about antidumping and the WTO's antidumping laws. In 1995, the World Trade Organization was born out of the Uruguay Round of trade talks. The WTO has upwards of 123 member countries and new members are always in the process of joining. The WTO is an organization that basically a more formal extension of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which had existed for around 50 years. However, the WTO agreements also cover trade issues not in the GATT agreement, such as trade in services and intellectual property rights. Also, WTO member countries must ag ree to all the obligations of its agreements. The WTO also features binding panel resolutions. Countries must accept the panel rulings; under GATT that was not necessarily true. Still, WTO embodies the same spirit as GATT. It favors trade liberalization and globalization over trade barriers. In particular, one main objective of the WTO is to reduce trade restrictions, and o... ...tidumping , this paper restricted its examination to only half of the antidumping story; there are many arguments for the antidumping laws that are currently on the books. No one is suggesting that the US or any other industrialized nation let its industries be unfairly put out of business, if that is truly the case at hand. Still, as the Seattle Round demonstrates, the WTO's antidumping laws seem to have satisfied to few countries. Given the spirit of its trade barrier reduction goals, the WTO should make sure it gets its antidumping rules right. Bibliography: "Consultations on FTAA and WTO Negotiations." Consultations with Canadians. 4 Oct. 99 . Dumler, Christopher M. "Anti-dumping Laws Trash Supercomputer Competition." Cato Briefing Papers. 14 Oct. 1997. . Griswold, Daniel T. "Industry Sets Steel Trap for U.S. Economy." Cato Center for Trade Policy Studies Articles. 23 October 1998.. Hindley, Brian and Patrick A. Messerlin. 29 Nov. 1999. "Japan Wants New Trade Talk." Reuters. 29 Oct. 1999. K & S Law. "Combating Injurious Imports." 29 Nov. 1999. Raghavan, Chakravarthi. "Call for Revision of Anti-dumping, Subsidy Rules. " Third World Network. .