Eliminating Trade Remedies from the WTO: Lessons from Regional Trade Agreements

Abstract

As the global financial crisis threatens to manifest in enhanced protectionism, the economic irrationality of dumping, countervailing, and global safeguard measures (so-called ‘trade remedies’) should be of increased concern to the Members of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’). Long tolerated under the WTO agreements and perhaps a necessary evil to facilitate multilateral trade liberalisation, elimination of trade remedies is far from the agenda of WTO negotiators. However, a small number of regional trade agreements offer a model for reducing the use of trade remedies among WTO Members in the longer term, consistent with WTO rules and broader public international law.

Keywords: World Trade Organization, regional trade agreements, trade remedies, anti-dumping, countervailing measures, safeguards

JEL Classification: F02, F13, F33