The Effects of NAFTA on Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Activity

Treatment of unfair trade laws has become an important topicin negotiations on preferential trading areas. Recent preferentialtrading areas involving the United States, one of the most significantusers of these laws, have established special binational disputesettlement panels to arbitrate disagreements. Using a paneldatabase of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty activityfrom 1980 through 2000, the article examines whether the useof dispute settlement panels has reduced such activity betweenthe United States and its North American Free Trade Agreementpartners. The analysis finds little evidence for any effect,calling into question the effectiveness of dispute settlementpanels in reducing unfair trade law activity.