Anti-dumping and Safeguards with Chinese Characteristics

By Mitch Dudek, Alex Wang & Chenbo Zhang, Jones Day, Shanghai

Since 1979, Chinese products have been the subject of more than 300 anti-dumping investigations worldwide. In 2002 alone, Chinese products were the subject of 47 investigations, and anti-dumping duties were levied in 36 cases. China, for its part, is increasingly reliant upon anti-dumping and safeguard measures to protect its own domestic industries. Indeed, since its first investigations against Canadian and US newsprint in 1997, China has launched 26 anti-dumping cases against foreign goods. Perhaps most notably, in May 2002 China mounted its first post-WTO safeguard action when it invoked tariff-quotas against US steel products.

China's WTO accession affects its anti-dumping and safeguard practices in two main ways. First, China gains access to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) whenever it perceives that China faces arbitrary and unjustifiable protectionism against Chinese products. Secondly, China is obliged to bring its domestic legislation and practices in line with WTO standards; if it doesn't, it may itself be brought to the DSB as a defendant.