Teaching China GATT

Abstract

How would China fare in its first WTO case? That question has been of interest to international trade law practitioners and scholars ever since China acceded to the WTO on 11 December 2001, and indeed even before then, in the years leading up to its accession. The answer now exists. China lost, and lost rather thoroughly, in the 2009 Auto Parts case. However, its loss is a lesson to China, and indeed all WTO Members, about important GATT principles, and indeed about the Golden Rule. Further, for China, and the world, the Auto Parts litigation leads to broader and deeper questions about the nature and extent of economic and political reforms.