China Blasts U.S. Implementation Of WTO 'Double Counting' Ruling At DSB

摘要

At last week's meeting of the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), China blasted the way in which the U.S. has implemented an adverse WTO decision related to "double counting." The U.S., by contrast, claimed at the Aug. 31 session that it has soundly implemented the findings in the case, which concerned the concurrent use of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVDs) on imports from China using a non-market economy (NME) methodology. "These steps complete the process under U.S. law for implementing the recommendations and rulings adopted by the DSB," the U.S. declared, according to Geneva sources. "As a result of the actions described in the U.S. status report and at the meeting last week, the United States has brought the measures at issue in this dispute into full compliance with the DSB recommendations and rulings." But China took issue with that assessment, and left open the possibility that it would ask for a WTO panel to determine whether the U.S. has properly complied with its obligations. In particular, it criticized the U.S. both for failing to comply within the reasonable period of time (RPT) allotted for doing so, and for acting in "bad faith" when determining how to implement the case findings. "The U.S. implementation action is a bad demonstration for other Members and will shake the Members' confidence [in] the WTO dispute settlement system," China argued, according to Geneva sources. "China reserves the right to take any necessary actions to address her concerns over the implementation by the United States in due course," it added.