Scholars, economists, lawyers, and government officials debate American trade policy

This unique volume presents published and hitherto unpublished works by leading international trade lawyer and academic, Gary Horlick. The value of his insights comes from his mix of government, professional and academic experience in trade proceedings in the WTO, in NAFTA, in Mercosur, and in over 20 countries. The unpublished material includes information not previously available on the origins and rationales of important areas of antidumping (such as zeroing), subsidies and countervailing duties (such as specificity), and new key areas of WTO Dispute Resolution (in particular, the role of science). This invaluable book will provide readers with information useful to practicing lawyers involved in antidumping, countervailing duty, and WTO cases; researchers interested in the origins and meaning of obscure aspects of international trade law, and students looking for explanations behind some of the texts.

The U.S. antidumping law enjoys broad political support in part because so few people understand how the law actually works. Its rhetoric of “fairness” and “level playing fields” sounds appealing, and its convoluted technical complexities prevent all but a few insiders and experts from understanding the reality that underlies that rhetoric. CONNUM? CEP? FUPDOL? TOTPUDD? DIFMER? NPRICOP? POI? POR? LOT? Confused? You’re not alone. Even members of Congress, whose opinions shape the course of U.S. trade policy, are baffled by those devilish details. Antidumping Exposed book seeks to penetrate the fog of complexity that shields the antidumping law from the scrutiny it deserves. It offers a detailed, step-by-step guide to how dumping is defined and measured under current rules. It identifies the many methodological quirks and biases that allow normal, healthy competition to be stigmatized as “unfair” and punished with often cripplingly high antidumping duties. The inescapable conclusion is that the antidumping law, as it currently stands, has nothing to do with maintaining a “level playing field.” Instead, antidumping’s primary function is to provide an elaborate excuse for old-fashioned protectionism. The authors offer 20 specific proposals for reform of the World Trade Organization’s Antidumping Agreement. Their analysis and ideas should be of great interest to businesses, trade lawyers, and trade negotiators around the world.