Anti-dumping measures to become Asia's weapon

Anti-dumping measures to become Asia's weapon

MANILA (AFP): Anti-dumping measures will increasingly become the weapon of choice of developing Asian countries previously targeted by the West, a U.S. expert warned here yesterday.

The development will "pose significant risks to the multilateral trading system, threatening its goals of liberalization, transparency and non-discrimination," Kenneth Abbott of the Northwestern University said in a paper presented at an international conference here.

China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, and to some extent India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have been frequent targets of the United States, the European Union, Canada and Australia.

But the use of anti-dumping measures by Asian developing nations, South Korea excluded, is a new phenomenon, Abbott said.

He said the region has begun to modernize laws and enact new ones, "most often modeling them on the relatively restrictive laws of the U.S. and other frequent users."

He said there is a belief most developing countries that became parties to the Uruguay Round anti-dumping measures code through the setting up of the World Trade Organization (WTO) "will adopt national anti-dumping laws."

Abbott said WTO litigation could become a more frequent occurrence, citing Washington's complaint over Seoul's wielding of the action on imports of polyacetal resin from the United States and Japan.

However, he warned that the ongoing auto parts dispute between Japan and the United States, which has threatened punitive tariffs, has "brought into question" the strength of commitment of signatories on the ban on use of unilateral measures.

Abbott said anti-dumping measures have become "the remedy of choice" for import-competing countries due to its "limited transparency, selectivity, and the lack of a requirement for compensation that avoid many of the political costs that restrain other forms of protection under the existing trading environment."

He said "WTO litigation against new users in Asia and elsewhere will be a fact of life."

However, if the use of anti-dumping action spread sufficiently "so that both new and traditional users find themselves more or less equally the sources and targets," the measure "will become much less attractive."

This should lead to a "bargain on mutual restraint," he added.