Google WTO complaint risky strategy for US
- Source: Global Times
- [21:40 March 22 2010]
- Comments
Jing Yunchuan
There also might be political or economic reasons for some countries not to use the WTO dispute settlement. In the early years of the WTO, the most frequent participants in dispute settlements were the US, the EU, Canada and Japan.
If we look at a longer time span, we see that a different pattern has started to emerge. The most frequent participants in WTO dispute settlement are now the US, EU, Canada, Brazil and India. These five members now represent 61.5 percent of complainants, and 54 percent of respondents.
In the beginning, China was considered a conciliatory defendant and a reluctant complainant, because it settled its disputes before a WTO panel was either established or reached a decision, and it didn't file complaints against other WTO members, save one jointly filed with six other countries against US steel products.
In 2006 China's defensive stance started to change and it decided to fight to the finish rather than settling the auto parts case.
A short time later, its offensive stance also started to change. In 2007 it filed its first independent complaint against the US on anti-dumping, and has filed five more independent complaints since.
GT: How can China avoid being involved in WTO disputes?
Harpaz : As I said before, I don't think China should set a general policy of avoiding WTO disputes. At the same time, I don't think China should pursue unjustified complaints.
Rather, it should continue to pursue a proactive policy in WTO dispute settlement.
It should also be kept in mind that if China loses a WTO case, it is also possible it could continue the illegal measure, revise its WTO commitment and simply offer compensation to the complainant.
Jing: I don't believe that China may avoid being involved. It's true that some countries filed cases against China, but China also files cases against other countries for their unreasonable trade measures against China.
In addition, China is active as a third party in many WTO cases. We should be aware of the fact that the WTO is a good forum to settle disputes and it has a good mechanism to resolve trade disputes. But as a young member of the WTO, China still needs to increase its influence there.
