KluwerLawOnline.com - Journal of World Trade

Anti-dumping in the First 30 Years of the WTO: Business as Usual

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

In the first thirty years of the WTO, members’ anti-dumping (AD) activity increased significantly, both in terms of the number of members starting to use AD measures and the number of measures imposed. Such increase, however, should be assessed in light of the overall changes in the patterns of trade at the global level in the same period. Seen from that perspective, the increase in AD activity does not seem out of ordinary. In the same period, the WTO showed versatility in responding to the evolving needs of its members in the field of AD, in terms of providing technical assistance to investigating authorities and deploying additional resources to the resolution of AD-related disputes.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702

From Trade Liberalism to Resource Sovereignty: Paradigm Change in Global Raw Materials Governance

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

Global raw materials governance is experiencing a paradigm shift. Long rooted in liberal trade norms and multilateral enforcement, the liberal trading regime faces mounting challenges from sovereignty-based strategies, legal defiance, and normative fragmentation. Drawing on Peter Hall’s typology of policy change and Finnemore and Sikkink’s model of norm emergence and internalization, this article frames the shift as a multi-level process: moving from first-order policy adjustments to second-order institutional strain, and ultimately to third-order redefinitions of trade’s purpose and legitimacy. The article empirically examines three sites of contestation: China’s rare earth export restrictions, Indonesia’s rejection of WTO rulings on nickel (DS592), and the European Union’s expanding use of non-binding Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in its external raw materials strategy. While MoUs do not replace Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), their normative focus on sustainability, value addition, local processing, and negotiated sovereignty signals a strategic realignment aimed at de-risking from China. This article uses process tracing and document analysis to show how contested norms around development, sovereignty, and fair trade reshape global trade instruments. It contributes to trade law and international political economy by highlighting how soft law and strategic diplomacy drive the emergence of a post-liberal resource governance regime.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702

WTO Reform: Codifying Technological Neutrality

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

This article argues that the ambiguous legal status of the principle of technological neutrality (PTN) within the WTO framework generates regulatory fragmentation and uncertainty in digital trade governance. While implicitly embedded in agreements like TBT and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), PTN faces divergent interpretations under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), with developing Members resisting expansive judicial readings that risk retroactively expanding commitments. The absence of formal codification enables inconsistent adjudicatory application, threatening policy space and legitimacy. To bridge gaps, the WTO must institutionalize PTN through proactive legislative reform such as an E-commerce Agreement featuring tiered commitments, tailored exceptions, and safeguards for cybersecurity and development asymmetries. A dual-track model is proposed to balance innovation with equitable integration, realigning digital trade liberalization with sustainable development goals. The analysis underscores the urgency of transforming PTN from a latent norm into a foundational pillar of coherent, adaptable international trade law.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702

Generative AI in Cross-Border Trade: Classification Conundrum and Governance Divergence under WTO Rules

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

The proliferation of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) presents a systemic challenge to the multilateral trading system, centred on its unresolved legal classification. The determination of whether Generative AI constitutes ‘goods’ under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or ‘services’ under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a strategic choice that dictates the applicable legal regime and shapes the permissibility of divergent national regulations. This article dissects this dilemma, arguing that a generalized ‘goods’ classification is legally and strategically untenable. Proceeding from a services-based framework, the analysis examines the significant tensions between emerging national AI regulations and core World Trade Organization (WTO) disciplines, particularly under GATS and the TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. This legal analysis further illuminates the divergent regulatory philosophies of the regulations, and the corresponding strategic responses available to different national blocs. The article concludes by advocating for international cooperation to adapt the multilateral trading system, ensuring a predictable, rulesbased environment for the digital economy.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702

The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: An Assessment and Prospects

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

Fisheries subsidies have been part of the negotiating history of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2001, with an Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) being reached in 2022 and entering into force in 2025. The agreement is historic from the points of view of fisheries sustainability and the WTO as a multilateral institution governing trade, but it does contain a few significant weaknesses. This article considers the background to the agreement and its negotiation history. It then reviews the agreement itself, explores its development implications, and considers its future prospects.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702

Winds Are Changing: The Rise of Threat-Based Trade Remedies Despite Climate Objectives - The EU Anti-subsidy Case on Electric Vehicles

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

Foreign imports that are dumped or subsidized are considered ‘unfair’ when they cause injury to the domestic producers. Under the World Trade Organization specific rules, members are fully entitled to take unilateral action in the form of anti-dumping (AD) or anti-subsidy (AS) measures, which may result in additional import duties on targeted imports. The threat of injury determination enables earlier intervention to protect the domestic industry. This article begins by examining historical trends, noting that the growing use of threat-based injury determinations reflects a policy shift toward a more anticipatory approach. The AS case on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) is a high-profile example of increasing reliance on the ‘threat of injury’ standard, which emphasizes the complexities of the ex-ante analysis. Our analysis focuses on the European Commission’s (EC’s) main findings, both procedural (initiation, granting of anonymity, use of post-investigation period data, sampling, use of facts available) and substantive (subsidy calculation, lesser duty rule (LDR), threat of injury, Union interest). Prior European case-law reminds us that whilst the EC traditionally benefits from a broad discretion in complex economic matters, further reinforced by the 2018 trade defence reform, it remains bound by substantive and procedural requirements. Investigations in strategic industrial sectors increasingly raise environmental considerations that the current AS framework is ill-equipped to address. A more evolutionary application of the Union interest test could better balance environmental objectives with subsidization concerns – an approach which, if mirrored by other major economies through the recognition of legitimate climate-oriented public support, could ease geopolitical tensions.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702

Customs Unions under the Enabling Clause

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:01:06 GMT

This paper examines how developing countries establish Customs Unions (CUs) under the Enabling Clause, implementing internal trade liberalization and Common External Tariffs (CETs). Although these CUs aim to create single markets, they often face challenges such as incomplete CETs and unilateral deviations from agreed CETs due to domestic policy considerations. While countries prefer the Enabling Clause as a legal basis due to its greater flexibility compared to GATT Article XXIV, legal inconsistencies arise when CETs exceed bound tariff commitments under GATT Article II. The Enabling Clause does not provide legal justification for such inconsistencies with GATT obligations. To address this gap, CUs formed under the Enabling Clause adopt various strategies to establish an additional legal basis: submitting new notifications under GATT Article XXIV, referencing Article XXIV in founding treaties, or invoking GATT Article XXIV:6 to renegotiate tariff concessions. These adaptations reflect developing countries’ efforts to preserve the flexibility afforded by the Enabling Clause while conforming to broader GATT obligations.

Volume 60 Online ISSN 1011-6702