Globalisation of Anti-dumping and Its Impact

A steep reduction in tariff duties, dismantling of substantial non-tariff barriers and removing of grey area measures left very little options for the WTO member countries to protect their non-competitive industries. One of the easy ways opened to them has been the initiation of antidumping measures. The WTO rules allow them to opt for anti-dumping measures with some specific stipulations. These are not too strict or stringent to comply with. Besides, anti-dumping has a unique combination ofp olitical and economic manipulability. During the eight years of the WTO regime, the use of anti-dumping measure has become rampant and it is indeed threatening to limit the market access achieved under the GATTIWTO trade negotiations over the last fifty years or so. In the recent years, a large number of developing countries have become the frequent users of anti-dumping (AD) and they account for half of the overall world total. Many of the heaviest AD users are countries who did not even have an AD statute a decade ago. The traditional users continue to make use of AD with more vigour by targeting the new users. The developing countries are targeting each other. The sectoral coverage of AD is over 85 per cent at the end of 2002. As many as 96 countries are the victims and 38 countries are making use of AD actions. The paper attempts to highlight developments in the use of AD actions world over under the WTO regime. It illustrates the position of four important players, namely USA, the EU, India and China as users and the victims of AD actions. It shows the special position of each of these actors occupy in the AD spectrum. Finally, ii concludes on the basis of observations that there is a need to contain and drastically modify the AD agreements to combat the menace. Some suggestions are offered to do so.