Do WTO members have more liberal trade policy?

This paper uses 68 measures of trade policy and liberalization to ask if membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is associated with more liberal trade policy. Almost no measures of trade policy are significantly correlated with GATT/WTO membership. Trade liberalizations, when they occur, usually lag GATT entry by many years, and the GATT/WTO often admits countries that are closed and remain closed for years. The exception to the rule is that WTO members tend to have slightly more freedom as judged by the Heritage Foundation's index.     

Developing Countries as Plaintiffs and Defendants in GATT/WTO Trade Disputes

Developing countries have been increasing their participation in the formal institutions and proceedings of the multilateral trading system. A prominent example is their more frequent involvement as defendants and plaintiffs in GATT/WTO trade disputes. This paper provides an initial economic appraisal of developing country performance in the GATT/WTO dispute settlement system. We measure the economic resolution of these disputes through trade liberalisation gains, and our results suggest that developing country plaintiffs have had more success under WTO disputes than was the case under the GATT. We also document evidence on potential determinants of this success: the capacity for plaintiffs to make credible retaliatory threats and the guilty determinations by GATT/WTO panels. Finally, there is also some evidence that developing countries have recognised the importance of retaliatory threats and have responded by changing their pattern of dispute initiation under the WTO to better take advantage of the instances in which they have sufficient leverage to threaten retaliation and induce compliance with GATT/WTO obligations.     

The GATT and gradualism

This paper shows how the institutional rules imposed on its signatories by the GATT created a strategic incentive for countries to liberalize gradually. Trade liberalization must be gradual, and free trade can never be achieved, if punishment for deviation from an agreement is limited to a ‘withdrawal of equivalent concessions’ and if initial deviation from an agreement is also limited. The paper shows how (sufficiently patient) countries have an incentive to deviate in a limited way when operating under GATT dispute settlement procedures.     

试析WTO争端解决机制

WTO自建立以来,其争端解决机制为多边贸易体制的有效运转提供了重要保障,对国际贸易争端的顺利解决起到了积极的作用。WTO争端解决机制是在GATT争端解决机制的基础上产生和发展起来,有着诸多不可比拟的优点,但同时不可避免地继承和包含GATT争端解决机制"先天性"的不足,其在实践中也暴露出不少问题,从具体的规则程序到实际运行的效果和作用都还存在不足之处。     

GATT第20条争端案例下的碳关税征收合法性分析

文章援引GATT第20条豁免条款经典案例,将碳关税合法性纳入WTO争端解决机制"两步走"审核程序。通过剖析争端解决机制对案例的裁决,认为碳关税满足GATT第20条(g)款,同时通过与多边国家协商制定多方认可的碳关税征收的无歧视标准,可通过GATT第20条前言的要求,从而认为碳关税征收满足GATT第20条豁免条款,案例折射出WTO争端解决机制对可耗竭自然资源保护措施的态度由承认其重要性、到肯定再到鼓励,都增加了碳关税征收的可能性。     

《美国1930年关税法》337条款实证研究

本文全面梳理统计1986年以来所有涉华337调查,通过详实准确的实证研究及数据调查,总结综述近年来涉华337调查的特征规律及发展趋势。在此基础上,深入探析337条款在WTO框架下的合法性,聚焦337条款与GATT第3条国民待遇原则的相悖性、第20条(d)款国民待遇原则例外的可适用性以及与TRIPS协议第41条的一致性问题,进而探讨将337条款诉诸WTO的可行性操作方案。     

Free trade and protection of the environment: Is the GATT in need of reform?

The GATT negotiations under the Uruguay Round have almost run their course. However, consultations are certain to continue, as critics regard the GATT rules on environmental protection as inadequate. What aspects need to be reformed, and how might the initial reform measures look?     

Curbing Agricultural Exceptionalism: The EU's Response to External Challenge

From 1948 to 1994, the agricultural sector was afforded special treatment in the GATT. We analyse the extent to which this agricultural exceptionalism was curbed as a result of the GATT Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, discuss why it was curbed and finally explore the implication of this for EU policy making. We argue that, in particular, two major changes in GATT institutions brought about restrictions on agricultural exceptionalism. First, the Uruguay Round was a ‘single undertaking’ in which progress on other dossiers was contingent upon an outcome on agriculture. The EU had keenly supported this new decision rule in the GATT. Within the EU this led to the MacSharry reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1992, paving the way for a trade agreement on agriculture within the GATT. Second, under the new quasi‐judicial dispute settlement procedure, countries are expected to bring their policies into conformity with WTO rules or face retaliatory trade sanctions. This has brought about a greater willingness on the part of the EU to submit its farm policy to WTO disciplines.     

Non-Tariff barriers to trade

Over the past three decades the non-tariff barriers to trade have grown in importance inversely to the import duties which have been lowered under GATT auspices. In the current GATT negotiations — the Tokyo round in which the contracting parties have been at work since the autumn of 1973 to solve the acute trade-political problems — non-tariff trade barriers are for the first time playing a major role.     

国际贸易政策的两难问题与GATT/WTO体制--GATT/WTO的政治经济学

国际贸易是受政治因素影响最大的经济领域之一，GATT／WTO的规则和体系实际上也反映了这种经济与政治交织的复杂性。国家利益的驱动使得各国政府在贸易政策运用方面处于选择偏向自由贸易或贸易保护的“两难境地”。GATT／WTO在倡导贸易自由化、建设开放的多边贸易体制过程中也不得不兼顾保障各国国家利益的要求，从而形成了以务实、折衷以及规则导向为特征的GATT／WTO理念，来支持和推动国际贸易发展中渐进的但又是持续的贸易自由化取向。     

The anti-dumping policy of the European Communities

In the recent discussion of EC anti-dumping rules and their application allegations have intensified that this instrument, provided by the GATT to counteract unfair trade practices, has increasingly been used by the Community to raise new trade barriers reflecting the amplification of protectionist intentions and resulting as a matter of fact in a restriction of imports contrary to the provisions and the scope of GATT. Is this a realistic assessment?     

针对产品生产和加工方法贸易措施的违法性分析

在GATT—WTO体系内部,针对产品生产和加工方法贸易措施的合法性,以及如何规范允许使用的针对产品生产和加工方法贸易措施的讨论甚为激烈,成为最有争议的焦点问题之一。本文根据对WTO协议中的GATT第1条、第3条、第20条,以及《技术性贸易壁垒协议》相关条文和案例的研究,分析了针对产品生产和加工方法贸易措施的违法性及其可能的负面效应,以供进一步的研究参考。     

Safeguards and the problem of VERs

One of the most complex problems facing GATT during the current Uruguay round of trade talks is the reform of Article XIX on temporary protection measures, commonly known as safeguards. Our author argues that, provided there are well-defined rules to limit its use, the introduction of some selectivity in safeguard measures need not undermine the GATT system. An appropriate change in the rules would induce countries to resort less to “grey-area” measures, such as voluntary export restraints.     

Fairness in International Trade Negotiations: Developing Countries in the GATT and WTO

Does fairness matter in the hard bargaining and horse‐trading that is associated with trade negotiations? This paper presents a positivist analysis of the particular concepts of fairness that developing countries have appealed to in their trade negotiations within the auspices of the GATT and WTO, how these notions have evolved, and the impact that they have had on negotiated outcomes. Treating the concept of fairness as my central dependent variable, I argue that the notion of fairness can only be understood in terms of the institutional context it is embedded in, which includes institutional structure as well as the participatory processes that underlie it. I advance three hypotheses on the relationship between institutional context: the fairness discourse, and the influence and manoeuvre that member countries can have in shaping that discourse. Focusing on the role of fairness in the negotiation positions of developing countries, I explain its substance and evolution through learning and adaptation by these countries within the very particular institutions of the GATT and the WTO, and the coalitions they form a part of and interact within.     

Preparations for the nixon round

The next round of GATT negotiations—the so-called “Nixon Round”—will be opened at the ministerial level in Tokyo on September 12–14, 1973, and probably continue for several years in Geneva. Less developed countries (LDCs) which have not joined GATT but nevertheless wish to participate in the negotiations are to be invited for the first time. UNCTAD and IMF will be among the most directly engaged observers.     

WTO法新发展与我国外贸法的完善

乌拉圭回合通过的一系列多边贸易协定标志着WTO法的新发展，使原来仅以货物贸易关系为调整对象的GATT法律体系发展成为既调整货物贸易，又调整技术贸易和服务贸易三大法律关系的WTO法律体系：WTO法的新发展既体现在对GATT法律体系的扩充，又体现在对GATT立法内容的修订与补充上：文章在论述WTO法新发展的基础上，探讨我国外贸法与外贸制度中迫切需要完善的若干问题。     

世界经济三大支柱的比较研究

被誉为世界经济三大支柱的关贸总协定、国际货币基金组织和世界银行，自成立以来，已经历了半个世纪的风风雨雨。它们都对二战后世界经济的复苏和振兴起到了举足轻重的作用。但是，关贸总协定及世界贸易组织发展更为迅猛，并从三大支柱中脱颖而出。展望世界经济发展前景，惟有加强三大支柱的协调与合作。世界经济才能鼎足而立。     

Will agriculture always remain a problem in GATT?

GATT has had extraordinarily scant “success” in the agricultural sphere up to now. To what extent is this due to the special status accorded to agriculture in GATT? Are trends discernible within GATT that might lead to an improvement in the situation? Might the Uruguay Round produce fundamentally new solutions?     

Trade skirmishes safeguards: A theory of the WTO dispute settlement process

I propose a framework within which to interpret and evaluate the major reforms introduced to the GATT system in its transition to the WTO. In particular, I examine the WTO Agreement on Safeguards that has amended the GATT escape clause (Article XIX), and the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) that resembles a court of law under the WTO. Using this framework, I interpret the weakening of the reciprocity principle under the Agreement on Safeguards as an attempt to reduce efficiency-reducing trade skirmishes. The DSB is interpreted as an impartial arbitrator that announces its opinion about the state of the world when a dispute arises among member countries. I demonstrate that the reforms in the GATT escape clause should be bundled with the introduction of the DSB, in order to maintain the incentive compatibility of trade agreements. The model implies that trade agreements under the WTO lead to fewer trade skirmishes but this effect does not necessarily result in higher payoffs to the governments. The model also implies that the introduction of the WTO court, which has no enforcement power, can improve the self-enforceability of trade agreements.     

从“中国原材料出口限制案”看我国应当如何援用GATT1994第20条(g)款

在"原材料出口限制案"中,中国援用GATT1994第20条(g)款抗辩失败。原因有二:一是未能证明贸易限制措施与保护可用尽的自然资源有关;二是未能证明贸易限制措施与限制国内生产或消费一同实施。本文以该案为背景,通过对GATT时期和WTO时期涉及第20条(g)款案件的比较研究,系统梳理了第20条(g)款各项要件的发展脉络,并且透过专家组和上诉机构的审查过程,对每一项要件的举证论证策略加以总结,最终构建出GATT1994第20条(g)款援用方案。