Trade in Environmental Goods: A Review of the WTO Appellate Body's Ruling in US — Countervailing Measures (China)
29 Pages Posted: 21 Sep 2015
There are 2 versions of this paper
Trade in Environmental Goods: A Review of the WTO Appellate Body's Ruling in US — Countervailing Measures (China)
Date Written: July 1, 2015
Abstract
In this paper we claim that, in the WTO Appellate Body (AB)’s ruling in US-Countervailing Measures (China), the AB decision has essentially left unchanged the practice of imposing countervailing duties (CVDs) on environmental goods. While the US has formally “lost” the case, a change in the procedures and tests used to motivate the CVD will allow the US to continue using this policy tool. From an economic point of view, this is not welcome news since CVDs have the standard distortionary effects of tariffs and could go against environmental goals. From a political-economy point of view, the CVDs in this case appear driven by pressure of domestic manufacturers of clean energy technology and products.
Keywords: international trade, WTO, environmental goods, countervailing duties, Appellate Body
JEL Classification: F12, F13, K33, Q20
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation