Anti-dumping - the controversy

Anti-dumping - The controversy- 02 April 2004

While antidumping doesn't get a lot of press, it is certainly one of the biggest issues that the WTO is dealing with today. During the recent WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle, much was made about protesters who were demanding higher environmental standards or international labor standards. Little was mentioned about antidumping. However, In the midst of the many demonstrators there were steel workers and members of other union organizations like the AFL-CIO who were there to defend US antidumping laws. Antidumping regulation was a major issue for Seattle as it is for the organization of the WTO in general. From the inception of the WTO, there has been controversy over antidumping laws from diverse groups. Some countries feel that other countries place antidumping measures on products that have not really been dumped. Since the 1994 Uruguay Round, many developing nations feel that they have been unfairly targeted for antidumping penalties by the industrialized nations.

Protest in Hong-Kong against WTO on december 2005

Anguish @ WTO 1999 by J. Narrin

Monster represted WTO

Countries such as Japan and South Korea have also called for reforms. The US, being the largest economy in the world tends to be on the receiving end of much of this controversy about its national antidumping laws. Adding to the confusion, not many cases brought to the WTO panels have been settled as of yet. There are many complaints about antidumping procedures, and some economic graphs can be used to demonstrate these complaints about antidumping and the WTO's antidumping laws. In 1995, the World Trade Organization was born out of the Uruguay Round of trade talks. The WTO has upwards of 123 member countries and new members are always in the process of joining. The WTO is an organization that basically a more formal extension of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which had...