Unfair trade practices and safeguard actions [A digital copy of Ing-wen
Tsai's personal copy of the original thesis presented to the Library in
2019.]
Tsai, Ing-Wen
(1983)
Unfair trade practices and safeguard actions [A digital copy of
Ing-wen Tsai's personal copy of the original thesis presented to the
Library in 2019.].
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
As the world
economy is now facing structural changes and recession unprecedented
since the 1930s, trade protectionism has begun to re-emerge. Tariff
trade barriers, after several rounds of GATT negotiation, are no longer a
serious concern. Rather, it is the use of non-tariff trade barriers
that threatens the world trading order. This thesis examines the legal
problems involved in the use of the most commonly employed non-tariff
trade barriers. The concentration is on dumping/ antidumping, subsidy/
anti subsidy, emergency safeguard actions against imports, voluntary
export restraints (VERs), and Multifiber Arrangements (MFA). Dumping and
subsidy are commonly termed as unfair trade practices, although the
element of unfairness in these practices is subject to much controversy.
The emergency safeguard regimes under Article XIX of the General
Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), VERs, and the MFA present various
modes of safeguard actions.
The thesis comprises three parts. Part One investigates the current
state of world economy. Chapter I examines the impacts of structural
changes and recession on the functions of three main international
economic organizations, the GATT, the International Monetary Funds, and
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Chapter II looks
into the classic free trade theory and the emergence of new sources of
comparative advantages. Emphasis is on how the changing pattern of
comparative advantage affect the world economy and trading relations.
Current trade conflicts and their solutions are discussed in Chapter III
with special emphasis on the various use of non-tariff trade barriers.
Part Two, the main part of the thesis, concentrates on the legal
analysis of those issues mentioned above. International law, mainly the
GATT, as well as national implementing legislation and actual practices
is investigated. Economic analysis is used to facilitate legal
discussions.
Part Three, the concluding part of the thesis, has two chapters. Chapter
I examines how politics in the time of economic hardship affects the
making and application of trade laws, and how far the current legal
regimes regarding unfair trade practices and safeguard actions depart
from the goal of global efficiency. Chapter II, in an attempt to search
for the least distortive and politically viable way to improve the
current legal order in international trade, discusses and comments on
specific proposals made by Professor Barcelo of the Cornell University,
Professor Lowenfeld of the New York University, and Dr. Hindley of the
London School of Economics. Finally, the candidate puts forwards her own
proposal.