Deploying WTO Trade Remedies to Combat the Eurozone’s Unfairness

This article explores the unfairness resulting from the Eurozone’s monetary framework which has led to a structurally undervalued euro, provided virtually unlimited financing to Eurozone producers and violated international banking principles relating to risk mitigation, to the detriment of other countries. It suggests that multilateral trade remedies may be applied to address the resulting imbalance. These consist of WTO disciplines on subsidies and dumping as well as IMF rules on exchange rate stability. The article highlights some of the difficulties in using WTO trade rules to combat currency manipulation, suggesting that a plausible way forward would be for the EU’s trade partners to negotiate specific commitments in FTAs which would facilitate subsidy and dumping claims in order to achieve a resolution to the systemic disadvantage suffered by firms competing with Eurozone exports on world markets