2004 Trade Policy Review – The United States

Many of the findings of the seventh Trade Policy Review of the United States are similar to those reached in earlier reviews: the US is unanimously acknowledged as having an open and transparent system; the US economy has remained amongst the world's most competitive, and has continued to support global growth by keeping its import market largely open. This review finds, however, that the US has developed a disturbing pattern of non‐compliance with WTO rules. During the period of review the United States enacted policies, most notably the infamous Byrd Amendment and the 2001–02 steel safeguard action, that were found to be clear violations of its WTO obligations. Despite these and other such findings, the United States has obstinately refused to bring its domestic statutes in line with WTO rules. In addition, in recent years the United States’ aggressive pursuit of regional and bilateral initiatives has led many Members to question whether the United States is committed to the multilateral approach espoused by the WTO. Overall, despite the US's many virtues, Member countries expressed concern that the US's stated leadership of and commitment to the WTO is not matched by its actions.     

WTO安全例外条款分析

WTO与国家安全例外相关的规则本身较为模糊。WTO是否有权、以及将如何裁决国家安全措施导致的贸易纠纷均无明确答案。在目前国家安全相关贸易纠纷不断增多的情况下,争议成员应遵循"善意"原则,尽量避免贸易纠纷升级,务实地寻求双边解决方案,同时积极完善多边贸易规则。     

US–Brazilian cotton policies

Brazil filed a lawsuit with the WTO against the United States for providing cotton production and export subsidies, and the WTO ruled in favour of Brazil. Brazil threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs if the United States does not comply with the WTO rulings. After a prolonged litigation stretching from 2002 to 2010, both countries agreed to a negotiated settlement wherein the United States paid Brazilian cotton producers to compensate for any adverse effects. This study develops a political economic model to theoretically analyse US cotton policies, Brazil's threat of retaliatory tariffs and the negotiated settlement between the two countries. The theoretical results show that the volume of cotton output, supply price response, politicians' apathy for the public welfare, elasticities of excess supply/demand and the magnitude of US transfers play a crucial role in determining US policies. This study contributes to the literature by being the first to model political economic aspects of the complex system of trade and domestic policies in the cotton industry using a three-country framework, tariff retaliation and transfers between the countries.     

加入WTO后促进企业出口的财税对策

财税政策在促进企业的出口方面一直发挥着重要的作用.加入WTO后,制定政策的制度环境发生了变化.本文考察了与企业出口有关的五个方面.它们分别是:反倾销、出口退税、开拓国际市场、研发与技术创新,及绿色贸易等.对每一个方面,我们在分析其现状、国际经验和WTO规则的基础上提出了相应的财税政策建议.     

The Evolution of Japan's Aggressive Legalism

Japan's recent trade policy is sometimes characterised as ‘aggressive legalism’ in the sense that it aggressively utilises the multilateral trade rules embodied in the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation in dealing with disputes with its trade partners. This policy may appear to be a marked departure from Japan's past practice of favouring bilateral, non‐legal settlement of trade disputes. Upon closer examination, however, while Japan has been moderately active in using the WTO dispute settlement process for resolving its trade disputes, it behaves more like a country that resorts to surgical strikes on selected targets (usually the United States) under a powerful cover of the European Community. Compared to Japan, Korea's attitude in the WTO is more aggressive. While the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is not content with the status quo and is seeking to expand its aggressiveness in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, it faces an uphill battle. One of the difficulties facing trade officials in Japan may be the lack of a national system for lodging WTO complaints, open to any citizens or firms, like Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 or the European Trade Barriers Regulation. Nonetheless, in the historical context, Japan is far more aggressive than in the past in utilising the rules of the GATT/WTO to advance its national interests. It will never revert to the infamous practice of bilateralism and grey area measures.     

US–Brazil Cotton Dispute and the World Cotton Market

US policies for its cotton producers depress world cotton prices, adversely affecting exporters such as Brazil, which filed a complaint to the WTO. Despite WTO rulings in Brazil's favour, meting out the right to enact retaliatory countermeasures, the United States continues to subsidise its cotton farmers. After prolonged negotiations, Brazil and the United States reached an agreement which allowed the United States to pay Brazil to refrain from enforcing the countermeasures. To capture the adverse effects of US policies, theoretical analyses are conducted. The theoretical model is extended by constructing an empirical model of the world cotton market. The adverse effects of US policies on Brazil are estimated and compared to the compensation the United States pays Brazil.     

论WTO/DSB贸易与环境争端的新发展

随着国际环境法发展完善的外部推动,WTO/DSB(WTO争端解决机构)通过司法造法逐步确立了贸易与环境争端"环境优先"的裁决思路,促进了贸易与环境的平衡发展。然而,气候国际法进程的停滞和各国低碳转型的经济发展需求,造成以单边可再生能源产业措施为核心的气候与贸易争端频繁发生,DSB面临气候国际法与WTO法规则冲突的解决和协调,并将通过司法造法淡化"环境优先"的裁决思路,这一转型将对气候与环境争端确立可予遵循的新判例。     

贸易争端背景下特朗普政府农业贸易补贴政策研究

美国长期实行农业补贴政策,其中农作物保险、农业风险补贴和价格损失补贴是补贴的主要形式。特朗普政府上台以后,美国同中国等一些国家发生贸易争端,美国农业出口面临关税报复和贸易壁垒的困境。为保持农业稳定发展,特朗普政府在原有农业补贴形式的基础之上新增了农业贸易援助计划,该计划主要包括市场促进项目、食品采购和分配项目、农业贸易促进项目。这些援助计划在稳定农业生产的同时,也扭曲了市场。美国在2019年度的农业补贴可能会超过其对世贸组织承诺的"黄箱"补贴上限,从而导致违反世贸组织规则。如美国长期执行该政策,我国应采取对美施压措施。     

环境税收边境调整与WTO

环境税收边境调整是征收环境税的国家针对进出口产品采取的一种单边措施,其目的是为了扭转国产品在国际竞争中的价格劣势。但是,这一措施可能会与WTO的最惠国待遇原则、国民待遇原则以及反补贴规则产生冲突。虽然WTO成员方可以援引GATT第20条例外条款,但是否能获得WTO专家小组或上诉机构的认同还是个未知数。对此,各国应同时从国际和国内两个层面寻找出路。     

WTO贸易救济争端解决裁决执行问题分析

WTO贸易救济规则执行的双层结构,使贸易救济措施争端解决裁决的执行具有一定的特殊性。这种特殊性造成WTO争端解决的执行规则在贸易救济争端领域适用时所产生的救济措施不充分、在较大程度上影响救济的效果和效率等问题,本文建议通过建立有限实施的诉讼临时措施制度,改善争端解决裁决和建议规则等措施解决这些问题。     

Border tax adjustments and U.S. trade

This paper reports welfare and terms of trade effects from border adjustments in the indirect taxes used by major U.S. trading partners using a numerical general equilibrium model of world trade and production due to Whalley (1985). Where the United States is a net importer of manufactures (as with Japan and the EEC) the United States gains by having these countries administer taxes on a destination rather than an origin basis. This is because the taxes involved typically have higher rates on manufactured products, and a discriminatory origin basis tax with higher rates on exportables operates akin to an export tax.     

Domestic Climate Policies and the WTO

The Kyoto Protocol gives Annex 1 countries considerable flexibility in the choice of domestic policies to meet their emissions commitments. Possible climate policies include carbon/energy taxes, subsidies, energy efficiency standards, eco‐labels, and government procurement policies. In order to meet their targets with minimum adverse effects on their economies, Annex 1 governments with differentiated legal and political systems are highly likely to pursue these policies that may have the potential to bring them into conflict with their WTO obligations. This paper explores the potential interaction between these domestic climate policies and WTO rules. It argues that their potential conflicts can be avoided or at least minimised if WTO rules are carefully scrutinised, and efforts are made early on to ensure that the proposed climate policies comply with them. It suggests an early process of pursuing consultations between WTO members and the Parties to the Climate Change Convention and points to the need of further exploring ways to enhance synergies between the trade and climate regimes.     

WTO争端解决机制在“贸易与环境”问题上的裁量标准——对“中国—原材料出口限制案”的思考

WTO争端解决机制在处理与环境问题有关的贸易争端方面已具备一定经验,但近年来,国际环境情势的变迁,使这一机制不得不考虑其作为人类事务逻辑链上一环的作用,认真审度"贸易与环境"问题的裁量标准,"中国—原材料出口限制案"或是一次挑战性的尝试。本案中,该机制既要依循WTO规则保障申诉方的贸易权益,也要考虑被诉方国内环境政策的目标和价值,为此,须着力解决好一些左右其裁量标准、进而影响其裁决结果的根本性问题。     

Optimal taxation and growth with public goods and costly enforcement

This paper studies optimal direct and indirect taxation in an endogenous growth framework with a productive public good and costly tax collection. Optimal (growth-maximizing) tax rules are derived under exogenous collection costs. The optimal direct–indirect tax ratio is shown to be negatively related to the administrative costs of collecting these taxes, as documented in cross-country data. This result also holds under endogenous collection costs (with these costs inversely related to administrative spending on tax enforcement), but for these to generate significant effects on tax collection requires implausibly high degrees of efficiency in spending, or the allocation of a large fraction of resources to tax enforcement. Depending on how it is financed, the latter policy may entail adverse effects on growth. Improving ‘tax culture’ and the sense of civic duty through greater budgetary transparency may be a more effective policy to improve tax collection and promote economic growth.     

Habit,prisoner's dilemma and Americans’ welfare cost of working much more than Europeans

Europeans work much less than Americans. Some studies claim this is due to Europe's high taxes and that Europeans would gain by adopting US tax rates and work time. I argue that Americans would gain by reducing work time to Europe's level. Due to historical experience, Europe is able to internalise work‐time‐related negative externalities by enacting restrictive work‐time policies, while the United States is not, resulting in a prisoner's dilemma equilibrium and “overworking trap.” A simple model and work‐time data are used to derive the US welfare gain from reducing work time to Europe's level. Findings are as follows: (i) parameter values are consistent with experimental results on own vs. other people's income value; (ii) the welfare gain's present value is between 80 and 120% of annual welfare; and (iii) a European policy that reduces work time excessively remains beneficial if the reduction is less than twice the optimal one.     

WTO不利裁决的执行研究

WTO裁决具有法律效力应当遵守,但客观上其裁决的执行存在裁量空间。美欧否认裁决在国内的直接效力,而将国家利益作为对裁决执行与否的首要考虑。通过对不完全执行所具备的积极效果考察,认为苛求裁决完全执行并非理想的解决途径,存在国内利益矛盾进而执行困难的情况下,败诉国需要重视磋商机制的价值,通过磋商平衡双方利益。     

美国禁止通过互联网提供赌博服务的贸易争端评述

安提瓜诉美国“赌博案”是世贸组织争端解决机制新近审理结案的一个涉及以互联网方式跨境提供服务的典型案例。文章介绍了这一案件的背景,论述了本案所涉及的实体法律问题,简要分析了本案所带来的启示并预测了其前景。本案的审理及其结果,展现了国际服务贸易中的市场准入规则的重要影响,更凸现了服务贸易的市场开放和国内社会安全之间的潜在矛盾。同时,也将对世贸组织体制内的电子商务、自由贸易与公共道德之关系等问题的走向产生重要影响。     

中国涉案WTO争端解决的条约解释及其比较

2011年是中国入世后涉案WTO争端解决的结案数量最多的一年。这些结案报告含有大量关于WTO协定的条约解释,且多半直接影响案件的裁定,全面地、深入地研究这些条约解释,对于总结中国涉诉案件的经验教训以及继续更好地应对WTO争端解决,维护中国的国家利益及企业合法权益,具有十分重要的理论与实践意义。     

WTO规则在中国法院间接适用理论与司法实践评析

WTO规则的特殊性决定了其不宜在国内法院直接适用,间接适用才是符合WTO宗旨和目标的恰当方式。"解释一致"是实践中常用的间接适用方法。我国司法机关适用WTO规则的实践情况并不容乐观:首先是缺失司法审查制度的实践,另外实践中关于WTO规则适用方式并不一致。因此,我们有必要采取措施确保司法实务部门统一正确地间接适用WTO规则,这对我国恰当履行WTO义务、保障国际贸易更快更好发展具有重要价值。     

Allies and Friends: The Trade Policy Review of the United States, 2006

The 2006 WTO Trade Policy Review of the United States reveals that national security concerns have become a dominant influence on US trade policy since 2001. This paper argues that direct and indirect effects of this influence have been deleterious to the multilateral trading system. Security concerns have led to an embrace of bilateralism that bears little relation to US commercial interests and will arguably detract from ongoing efforts at multilateral trade liberalisation. Security concerns have also led to a substantial change in customs and inspection procedures for goods bound for the US, which could swamp tariffs in terms of their trade‐inhibiting effect. Finally, the unpopularity at home of US military actions abroad has weakened the US President and opened the door for rising protectionism in Congress.