International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook, Volume 5 Remedies (6th Revised Edition)

Bhala, Raj

Publication

International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook, Volume 5 Remedies (6th Revised Edition)

Bhala, Raj

Abstract

When countries lower tariff and/or non-tariff barriers through multilateral trade negotiations (MTNs) under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organization (WTO), or free trade agreements (FTAs), they are left with one category of measures to protect domestic producers: trade remedies. Volume Five covers this broad, deep specialty of International Trade Law. Remedies fall into four categories: (1) against unfairly traded merchandise; (2) against fairly-traded merchandise; (3) against non-market economies; and (4) unilateral action. Parts One, Two, Three and Four deal with remedies to combat unfair trade, namely, antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVDs). Each of these Parts lays out the definition and elements of “dumping” and “subsidies.” The elements are technical, to be sure, but they are what International Trade Law practitioners “do” every day. Accordingly, all relevant case law is integrated into the AD-CVD material. Attention also is paid to fishing subsidies, in Part Four. World fisheries are depleted amidst subsidized commercial- scale international fleets (as from China), threatening the livelihoods of artisan fishermen and the protein-sources of hundreds of million around the world. Part Five turns to remedies against fair trade. It explains why that counter-intuitive idea – fighting imported merchandise that is not dumped or illegally subsidized – makes sense in historical, economic, and political terms. Part Six covers material that, with the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, might have been dismissed as irrelevant thereafter. In fact, given the economic policies of China (and other countries), remedies against imports of merchandise originating in countries that do not play be market economy standards and rules, i.e., non-market economies (NMEs), remain relevant. Such remedies include modified metrics for AD-CVD, plus market disruption. Part Seven is about the most controversial trade weapon in America’s trade arsenal: Section 301. This Part explains the theory and practice of why and how America acts on its own against foreign government acts, policies, or practices that are unreasonable or discriminatory, and burden or restrict U.S. commerce. Yes, Section 301 is an example of constructive ambiguity to deter possible “bad” behavior. But yes, the flexibility constructive ambiguity affords has led to major cases, indeed, trade wars, as between the U.S. and China. Finally, Part Eight deals with a topic not well covered at any level of International Trade Law – multilateral, FTA, or national – namely, currency manipulation. How are foreign exchange rates set, how does foreign exchange (FX) trading work, and what are the criteria to determine when one country manipulates its currency to bolster its exports and disincentivize imports?

Description

This book is Volume Five of an Eight-Volume set. All of the Volumes are available in KU ScholarWorks. Links to all eight volumes are available in the Abstracts file in this record. About the Author: Born in Toronto of Indian and Celtic heritage, Rakesh (Raj) Kumar Bhala is a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen prominent in the fields of International Trade Law, Islamic Law (Sharī‘a), and Law and Literature. Raj is the inaugural Leo. S. Brenneisen Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law (KU Law). He is published widely world-wide – authoring 100 scholarly articles and 13 books, including the International Trade Law Textbook, which has been used at over 100 law schools around the globe. Ingram’s Business Magazine designated him as one of “50 Kansans You Should Know.” Raj has testified before the U.K. Parliament, House of Commons, International Trade Committee, on trade and human rights. Media frequently call upon Raj. Across 65 consecutive months (from January 2017-October 2022), “On Point” was his column on International Law and Economics, which Bloomberg Quint / BQ Prime (Mumbai) published and distributed to approximately 6.2 million readers globally. Raj is a Harvard Law School (HLS) graduate (Cum Laude). As a Marshall Scholar, Raj earned two Master’s degrees, from the London School of Economics (LSE) in Economics, and from Oxford (Trinity College) in Management (Industrial Relations). His undergraduate degree is from Duke (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa), where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar and double-majored in Economics and Sociology. After HLS, Raj practiced at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he twice won the President’s Award for Excellence thanks to his service as a delegate to the United Nations Conference on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), along with a Letter of Commendation from the U.S. Department of State. He is a member of the State Department’s Speaker Program. Raj has served in officer positions at the International Bar Association (IBA) and Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), on the Executive Board of Directors of the Carriage Club of Kansas City (including as Treasurer), and been on the Alumni Association Board of the University School of Milwaukee (USM), his high school alma mater. He is grateful to his USM teachers for a liberal arts education that made all good things possible. Raj loves fitness training, has finished 115 marathons, including the “Big Five” of the “World’s Majors” (Boston twice, New York twice, Chicago twice, Berlin, and London). He enjoys studying Shakespeare and (especially since becoming Catholic at Easter Vigil 2001) Theology – and watching baseball.