Antidumping Duties on Chinese Products: Effects of expiration of Article 15.a.ii of China's WTO Accession Protocol and countermeasures

This paper discusses the effects of, and countermeasures against, the expiration of Article 15(a)(ii) of China's World Trade Organization (WTO) Accession Protocol. China agreed in the Article that importing Members may apply non-market economy methodologies in calculating antidumping duties against Chinese products.

WTO Members have imposed substantially higher antidumping duties on a wider range of Chinese products than products from the market economy, applying non-market economy methodologies pursuant to Article 15. The expiration of subparagraph (ii) thereof on 11 December 2016 has attracted a variety of arguments. I believe that a Member may continue applying the methodology if it establishes pursuant to the criteria in its national law that Chinese producers operate the subject merchandise business under the non-market economy conditions, provided that the criteria were established before China's WTO accession date.

China brought this issue to the WTO Dispute Settlement. Its reports must carefully be reviewed, once issued. Irrespective of its reports, however, Members may be able to adjust certain cost elements in the constructed value of Chinese products in a manner similar to the non-market economy methodology under certain conditions.