The Rise of China and the Future of Trade Remedies
From Reuters:
China on Wednesday slapped anti-dumping duties on imports of carbon steel fasteners from the European Union, just a day after the EU extended import duties on shoes from China and Vietnam.This reminds me of what recently took place after the U.S. imposed safeguards on Chinese tires:China fired back against proposed tariffs on Chinese tires imported to the United States by announcing Sunday that an anti-dumping and anti-subsidies investigation would be launched on U.S. auto parts and chicken products, state media reported.I have a feeling we may be seeing the start of a change with regard to trade remedies. China is doing more than just challenging U.S./EU trade remedies in domestic judical proceedings and the WTO, which is the typical response. In addition, it is imposing its own trade remedies against U.S./EU products, and it is doing so in a confrontational way (in direct response to duties imposed on it). The full impact of this strategy may take a while to develop, as the Chinese market is not yet that important for many U.S./EU companies. In the future, though, it may be that such actions hurt enough to cause a rethinking of U.S./EU policy in this regard. They probably won't give up the use of trade remedies, of course, but they may become more active in reining in their abuse.