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.