USTR Ron Kirk on WTO Trade Enforcement

From Reuters:

But in the same news conference, Kirk also made clear his dislike for WTO litigation, which can take years to resolve and often produce mixed results.

"My guiding principle is that where we can get issues resolved through direct negotiations, no matter how difficult they are, we're so much better served than saying 'I'm going to go to the WTO and file a case'," Kirk said.

"Because part of my concern was the number of matters we have with trade partners that have been at the WTO five years, 10 years, 20 years. Because at that point, you've got a war of wills between lawyers who are each concerned they're right."

In keeping with that philosophy, Kirk has filed just two WTO cases -- one against excise taxes the Philippines imposes on imported liquor and another in conjunction with the European Union against China's export restraints on raw materials used in the production of steel.

For what it's worth, here are the cases filed by the U.S. since Jan 20, 2009:

Dispute Name	DS Number	Complainant(s)	Respondent	Request Date	Agreements
Philippines - Taxes on Distilled Spirits	403	United States	Philippines	Jan 14, 2010	GATT
China - Measures Related to the Exportation of Various Raw Materials	394	United States	China	Jun 23, 2009	GATT, Protocol of Accession

And here are the cases filed against the U.S. since Jan 20, 2009:

Dispute Name	DS Number	Complainant(s)	Respondent	Request Date	Agreements
United States - Measures Affecting the Production and Sale of Clove Cigarettes	406	Indonesia	United States	Apr 07, 2010	GATT, SPS, TBT
United States - Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Shrimp from Viet Nam	404	Viet Nam	United States	Feb 01, 2010	AD, GATT, Protocol of Accession, WTO
United States - Use of Zeroing in Anti-Dumping Measures Involving Products from Korea	402	Korea	United States	Nov 24, 2009	AD, GATT
United States - Measures Affecting Imports of Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tyres from China	399	China	United States	Sep 14, 2009	GATT, Protocol of Accession, Safeguards
United States - Certain Measures Affecting Imports of Poultry from China	392	China	United States	Apr 17, 2009	Agriculture, GATT, SPS

It may be worth noting that 3 of the 5 cases filed against the U.S. were trade remedy cases; without trade remedies, it's 2 filed by and 2 filed against.  Will the U.S. ever make it a regular practice to challenge foreign trade remedy actions?

ADDED: For example, this one:

One of three possible new cases Kirk was asked about on Friday involves a specialty steel product made by Allegheny Technologies Inc, which hosted him for his speech.

The company's grain-oriented electrical steel, which is used in high-efficiency transformers, electric motors and generators, was hit this year with Chinese anti-dumping and countervailing duties it says are unjustified.