Western countries’ antidumping laws against nonmarket economy countries & China’s reactions

Antidumping is one of the central issues of contemporary international trade. The use of antidumping laws to restrict competition from other countries' imports has increased tremendously in recent years, which signifies an alarming surge of protectionism in the world trade regime. It is evident that four Western powers, the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union, have most actively used their antidumping laws as a means of protecting their domestic industries against the dangers (real or just perceived) of foreign dumping goods. As regards the targets of Western countries' antidumping actions, there appeared an interesting trend during the past decade. Namely, more and more imports from nonmarket economy countries (NMEs) have been sued for dumping in Western countries. On the one hand, this tremendous expansion of antidumping proceedings against NMEs implies that some NMEs' foreign trade regimes are still not in line with the international practice. On the other hand, it suggests the increased competitiveness of NMEs' industries in the international market, which is driven by their comparative advantages in the world market and can be expected to continue in the future. Under these circumstances, to better protect powerful domestic interest groups, Western countries choose to apply their antidumping rules in a manner different from those applicable to market economies, especially when they calculate the normal value of the imports from NMEs. It is no exaggeration to say that in the context of antidumping, NMEs have long been facing a powerful circumstance that works against their interests. My thesis therefore focuses on analyzing Western countries' antidumping laws and administrative practice against the imports from the NMEs, mainly from the United States, Canada and the European Union perspectives. It brings forward such questions as: what exactly is the economic rationale for antidumping? Do antidumping laws have tradeinhibiting effects that have become a roadblock to international trade? Is that fair for the Western countries' antidumping laws to divide the world into market/nonmarket economy countries and essentially only treat prices within the former as legitimate? Whether Western antidumping laws are informed by the development of the NMEs, if not, then how should they be modified so as to better accommodate the emerging transitional NMEs? Drawing on international relations, legal, and neoclassical free trade theory, the thesis critiques the protectionist bias of Western countries' antidumping laws against the NMEs in transition, pointing out the inhibiting effects of Western countries' special NME antidumping rules to the NMEs' export-led growth and consequently to the development of the global economy. In short, the thesis on the one hand suggests that with the transition of some NMEs into market-oriented economy countries, it is time for Western countries to re-evaluate their antidumping laws so as to avoid creating a roadblock to the development of international trade. On the other hand, it also suggests, from both China's national development direction and foreign trade companies' export strategy perspectives, some alternatives to China's future export-led trade policy in the context of reactions to Western countries' antidumping practice.Law, Peter A. Allard School ofGraduat