Political divisions among EU member states seem to have derailed the reform process envisaged by Mr Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner, for the most important of the EU's trade defence instruments - antidumping. Here is a discussion of antidumping and what a minimal proposal for reforms should include.
Sixty years of GATT rounds have resulted in low levels of tariff protection, especially for developed countries. Constrained by these commitments, many countries have switched to other instruments to wield protection. Among these, antidumping duties are some of the most important. Although originally devised to combat unfair trade in the form of export prices below normal value (i.e., dumping)1, their wide and arbitrary applicability has led economists to conclude that antidumping "has nothing to do with keeping trade 'fair.' ... It is simply another form of protection" (Blonigen and Prusa, 2003). Still, because of the stated objective of fairness, antidumping duties are legal provided they respect the WTO antidumping agreement.
