Just as it had in several recent similar disputes, the Panel in China– Autos found several of the challenged issues WTO-inconsistent. We believe virtually all of the deficiencies noted by the Panel could be easily addressed with minor changes to MOFCOM practices. The real significance of this dispute lies in what it tell us about the larger trade policy dance between the US and China. On the on...

The founders of the WTO placed priority on raising standards of living and on sustainable development and expansion of trade was a means to achieve these ends. However, such broad objectives are now being equated by many with the broadening of the means as well. Such a tendency could be found even during the Uruguay Round of negotiations. The inclusion of a range of trade-related issues in the ...

For the first time, the 2015 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference would be held in Africa, in Kenya, in December 2015. WTO Director General Roberto Azevêdo stated that the WTO has helped to boost trade growth, resolve trade disputes and support developing countries to integrate into the trading system. But most African countries question that if the multilateral trade negotiati...

With the creation of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”), an area of international law may have become more like law as we commonly perceive it. Yet it is not necessarily the neutral technocratic process some of its proponents make it to be. Whatever is one’s perspective on trade liberalization and its enforcement, developing countries and developing country constituents are at a disadvantage ...

Ranging from the denial of direct effect to WTO law by the Court of Justice to a WTO-friendly legislative culture currently booming in the EU’s political institutions, different approaches towards WTO law have been adopted within the EU. This article classifies the different approaches into reactive, coactive, and proactive by drawing on their common characteristics. The principal aim is to exp...

The WTO system and democratic rights are unexpected bedfellows. The GATT ⁄WTO requires governments to adopt policies that provide foreign products (read producers) with due process, political participation, and information rights related to trade policymaking. Because these nations also provide these rights to their citizens, a growing number of people are learning how to influence trade-relate...

In this paper, two key questions are asked: why has the GATT/WTO worked in terms of multilateral tariff reduction and promotion of global trade, and to what extent will it act as a constraint on economic nationalism? To answer these two questions, three themes are laid out in the paper: first, the seminal economic model rationalizing the economic logic of the GATT/WTO is assessed; second, the p...

Before November 1999, few Americans knew what "WTO" meant, much less understood its workings. The World Trade Organization evolved from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and was officially created in 1995. Membership has now reached 135 nations and another 32 have applied for accession, including China and the former Soviet Republics. Current members span the spectrum of the wor...

As an internationally standardized product nomenclature, the Harmonized System (HS) is used by WTO Members in their schedules of concessions and in the definitions of product coverage for a number of WTO agreements. The Harmonized System is normally amended by the World Customs Organization every four to six years. These amendments pose considerable challenges for the WTO and its Members. On th...

After a long wait of some 15 years, China finally became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December 2001. This was a major milestone not only for China but also for the WTO, boosting the coverage and potential impact of the multilateral trading system. China can now fully participate in the WTO and help shape the rules on which the multilateral trading system is based. This deve...