The Appellate Body of the WTO announced rulings, on December 18, in favor of China in a complex case dealing with countervailing duty (CVD) determinations and anti-dumping duties, mostly resulting from US treatment of China as a “non-market economy” (NME).
The case had originated in 2012, and most of China’s complaints had already been upheld by the WTO last May.
The Panel was established on December 17, 2012 to address China’s concern that the US was not administering its trade remedy laws in a uniform, impartial and reasonable manner and that the US Public Law 112-99 was inconsistent with the GATT 1994, the SCM Agreement and the Anti-Dumping Agreement. The US regretted the China had chosen to pursue its request for panel establishment and noted that its measures were consistent with its WTO obligations.
The Appellate Body confirmed that the benchmarks applied by the United States in conducting the countervailing duty investigations against certain Chinese products are against WTO rules.
