International Trade Law Commons^™

Trading With Foreigners: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of China’S Core Interests In Trade And Foreign Policy, Phoenix X.F. Cai

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article takes an interdisciplinary approach by drawing on political science, international relations, and legal global governance literatures to explain how China’s foreign policy impacts and guides its trade policy, which is manifested in the three core interests. The article makes the case that the core interest analysis holds promising explicative, predictive, persuasive, and coalition-building value in the arenas of global trade policy and dispute settlement.

This article proceeds in five main parts. Part II traces the contours of China’s three core interests in action, both in the domestic and international spheres. While not purporting to be exhaustive, it takes …

Paper Compliance: How China Implements Wto Decisions , Timothy Webster

Michigan Journal of International Law

China’s growing economic and military clout generates scrutiny, optimism, insecurity, opportunism, opprobrium, and unease around the world, especially in the United States. Many question China’s role on the world stage. Politicians and academics openly doubt China abides by international law and other global standards of state conduct promulgated by Western liberal democracies since the end of World War II. The game may change—international trade, territorial and maritime disputes, environmental law, human rights, arms control, riparian rights, cyber-crime, endangered species—but the concern remains the same: is China an international scofflaw?

Transfer Pricing: Un Guidelines — Brazil, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

The UN Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries endeavors to provide “clearer guidance on the policy and administrative aspects of applying transfer pricing analysis.” Chapter 10 is particularly noteworthy. It sets out specific country practices. The rules in Brazil, China, India and South Africa are offered as templates for developing countries to follow.

This article considers the Brazilian contribution to Chapter 10. Although some writers believe that developing countries should adopt the Brazilian model this article suggests otherwise. Even though it is a theoretically simple system, some aspects of the Brazilian model consistently work to the fiscal disadvantage …

Counting Once, Counting Twice: The Precarious State Of Subsidy Regulation, Wentong Zheng

UF Law Faculty Publications

Subsidy regulation is in a precarious state. While it has been so ever since the conception of the current subsidy regulation regime, the recent disputes between the United States and China over the “double counting” or “double remedies” of subsidies have threatened the mere functionality of the current regime. This Article argues that the double counting controversy reveals the self-contradictions of the current subsidy regulation regime as to the fundamental question of why subsidies need to be regulated. These self-contradictions make it impossible to devise a coherent solution to the double counting problem within the framework of the current subsidy …

A Dual Track Approach To Challenging Chinese Censorship In The Wto: The (Future) Case Of Google And Facebook, Anonymous

Michigan Journal of International Law

As economic and trade policies continue to affect more facets of society, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) impact on government policy and citizens’ lives has grown. Since its creation on January 1, 1995, the WTO has fostered trade liberalization negotiations and served as a forum where member countries can discuss economic concerns with one another. The WTO is perhaps best known for its dispute settlement mechanism. When countries cannot reach a mutual resolution to a conflict governed by a trade agreement, they can initiate formal legal proceedings against one another by asking for a panel to be appointed. The panel …

The China Syndrome: The International Trade Commission’S Rising Importance For Enforcing International Trade Secret Violations, Jonathan R. K. Stroud

Celebrating WCL Student Authors

Reprinted with permission of FDLI

Reassessing Apec's Role As A Trans-Regional Economic Architecture: Legal And Policy Dimensions, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the two-decade evolution of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the future prospects for Asian regionalism. It argues that while APEC retains advantages over competing regional structures, it should undergo reforms to accelerate the Bogor Goals and ensure its complementarity with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The article first analyzes the impact of stake-holding countries’ trade policies on APEC’s structure and development. By assessing APEC’s soft-law mechanism, it explores APEC’s WTO-plus contributions that reinvigorated the International Technology Agreement negotiations and improved supply chain facilitation. APEC’s goal of creating a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) can …

Africa-China Bilateral Investment Treaties: A Critique, Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this Article is to draw attention to, raise questions about, and generate discussions regarding the emerging norms, legal context, and long-term development-implications of South-South foreign direct investment (“FDI”) and South-South bilateral investment treaties (“BIT”). This Article seeks to refocus the discourse about FDI and BITs on developing countries in their role as exporters of capital and in the context of the much-touted new geography of investment. Can South-South BITs play a positive role in promoting development in sub-Saharan Africa any more than the Africa-North BITs? Is China concluding development-focused BITs with countries in Africa? The Article identifies …

International Order After The Financial Crisis, Harold James

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

How is international order built, and how is it legitimate, in a world in which political and economic foundations are rapidly shifting? What are the consequences of the rise of major new powers for the structure and the functioning of the international system? Great wars or great financial crises have in the past led to disorientation about the moral foundations of society, domestically and internationally. The paper examines parallels with the Great Depression, and in particular the weakening of multilateralism and of small political units, and the strengthening of large powers with hegemonic claims. The paper then turns to an …

The Balance Of Power, Public Goods, And The Lost Art Of Grand Strategy: American Policy Toward The Persian Gulf And Rising Asia In The 21st Century, Flynt Leverett, Hillary Mann Leverett

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

An important driver of relative decline in America’s international standing is the failure of its political elites to define reality-based foreign policy goals and to relate the diplomatic, economic, and military means at Washington’s disposal to realizing them—the essence of “grand strategy.” For several decades, American policy has been pulled in opposite directions by two competing models of grand strategy. In one—the leadership model—America maximizes its international standing by adroitly managing regional and global power balances and promoting the processes of economic liberalization known collectively as globalization. In the second model—the transformation model—America seeks not to manage power balances but …

One Step Ahead Two Steps Back: Reverse Engineering 2nd Draft For 3rd Revision Of The Chinese Copyright Law, Hong Xue

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

On July 6, 2012, the National Copyright Administration of China released the 2nd Draft of the 3rd Revision of the copyright law, in which 81 provisions were changed from the 1st Draft. It does contain a few improvements, but it contains more compromises and even steps backward under the pressure of interest groups. It is unfortunate that China, the largest country by both population and Internet users, despite its fast-growing economy, seems missing the opportunities to craft a 21st-Century Copyright Law, but instead follows the old path of “the more the better” (more copyright protection and enforcement, the better economic …

Not In It For The Long Run: China's Solution For Compliance With Trips Requires More Than A Nine-Month Campaign, Devon Spencer

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Interpretation Of Gats Disciplines On Economic Integration: Gats Commitments As A Threshold?, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The interpretation of GATS Article V, which deals with economic integration, is of crucial importance to the growing number of economic integration agreements (EIAs) in services, in terms of dispute settlement, services negotiations, the WTO review of EIAs, the coordination between multilateralism and EIAs, and best practices in drawing up EIAs. However, the Article has received insufficient study and remains vague.This paper takes China's eight EIAs as test cases for interpreting GATS Article V and argues that GATS commitments may be an appropriate threshold for interpreting the Article, in particular the substantial sectoral coverage and elimination of discrimination requirements, which …

United States--Certain Measures Affecting Imports Of Poultry From China: The Fascinating Case That Wasn't, Donald H. Regan

Articles

US–Poultry (China) was the first Panel decision dealing with an origin-specific SPS measure, or with what the United States referred to as an ‘equivalence regime’. More specifically, it was the first instance in which the basis for the challenged measure was the claimed inability of the complainant country to enforce its own food-safety rules. Unfortunately, as the litigation developed, the very interesting novel issues raised by such a measure were not discussed. This essay discusses those novel issues – in particular, what sort of scientific justification or risk assessment should be required for a measure like this, and what SPS …

From The Periphery To The Centre: China's Participation In Wto Negotiations, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In November 2001, China finally acceded to the World Trade Organization after a marathon accession negotiation that lasted 15 years. As China's accession coincided with the launch of the Doha Round, many commentators predicted that China's participation in the trade negotiations would have significant impacts on the Round. However, this has not proven to be the case. What have been the approaches taken by China in global trade negotiations? Why did China adopt these approaches? How did China's different negotiating approaches affect the dynamics of trade negotiations? These are the questions addressed in this article. The paper argues that China …

One (Firm) Is Not Enough: A Legal-Economic Analysis Of Ec-Fasteners, Chad P. Brown, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

The WTO’s Appellate Body (AB) dealt with a number of issues for the first time in the Report of EC-Fasteners. Importantly, the AB discussed the consistency of the European Union (EU) regulation with the multilateral rules on the conditions for deviating from the obligation to calculate individual dumping margins. Although China formally won the argument, the AB may have opened the door to treat China as a non-market economy (NME) even beyond 2016 when China’s NME-status was thought to expire under the terms of China’s 2001 WTO Accession Protocol. The AB further dealt with numerous other issues ranging from statistical …

The Silver Lining In The Red Giant: China's Residential Mortgage Laws Promote Temperance Among The Surging Middle Class, Clayton D. Laforge

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment examines the rise of China's middle class and proactive governance to protect its economy from a housing bubble during the global downturn. An analysis of recently enacted Chinese labor and corporate laws demonstrates how the government facilitated the rise of the middle class. The comment discusses the ramifications of strict domestic residential mortgage regulations and how China's tempered investment structure secured its domestic housing market. Part II of this comment examines China's investment and consumption patterns compared to domestic growth. Part III discusses how the surging middle class grew to seek investment opportunities in the real estate market …

China And The New Asia: Policy Recommendations, Tasha N. Haug

Senior Honors Theses

The People’s Republic of China is an indispensable political and economic force in Asia. With the majority of the United States’ foreign economic interests invested in the Asia-Pacific region, the leading role that China is taking is a major concern. The Asia-Pacific region is strategically important to the US. How US policy makers craft foreign policy toward Asia has a direct impact on US involvement in the region. Unless the US becomes more invested in Asia, develops a comprehensive understanding of China’s role in the region, and proactively pursue strategic relationships, US influence in Asian affairs will become a thing …

The China Currency Issue: Why The World Trade Organization Would Fail To Provide The United States With An Effective Remedy, Marcus Sohlberg

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

A critical issue in the global trading system that came to the forefront in 2010 concerns exchange rates. Having suffered to various degrees through the worst economic and financial downturn since the Great Depression, many large trading nations have sought to achieve economic recovery through export-led growth. In order to boost international competitiveness, many have engaged in competitive devaluations, i.e. interventions in currency markets to devalue domestic currency. According to Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega this situation has escalated into a “global currency war”.

This paper focuses on China’s practice of maintaining an artificially undervalued currency, and addresses the question …

Elephants In The Room: Challenges Of Integrating China Into The Wto System, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Since China’s accession to the WTO in late 2001, one of the most intriguing questions for trade analysts has been whether the “new kid on the block” would seek to disrupt the status quo in the WTO upon its entry. This paper answers the question by reviewing China’s participation in two key activities of the WTO, i.e., trade negotiations and dispute settlement, as well as another important component of global trade governance: regional trade agreements (RTAs). Drawing from an in-depth study of China’s record in these activities, the author argues that, overall, China has transformed from a passive “taker” of …

Trips Enforcement And Developing Countries, Peter K. Yu

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Post-Wto China Tax Law System Reform And The Rule Of Law: Progress And Prospects, Tianlong Hu

SJD Dissertations

A close examination of China's accession commitments reveals that effective economic reform and trade liberalization call for substantiations from a matching legal infrastructure reform. For example, taxpayers' rights protection should be viewed in terms of broader political and civil rights reform. Indeed, a number of the values featured in the WTO principles and the rule of law framework encourage China's further integration into both the global trade network and the international human rights regime. This is particularly evident in the Chinese tax law context. WTO principles and the rule of law requirements must be introduced and evaluated together in tax …

Taking Stock: China's First Decade Of Free Trade, Jun Zhao, Timothy Webster

Faculty Publications

China has established itself as a global economic presence in the past ten years. This article explains one important but overlooked aspect of this rise, China’s newfound interest in free trade agreements (FTAs). This paper situates the FTA boom within a framework of international political economy and China’s recent regional rise. This paper probes the question of how China selects its FTA partners, referencing US trade practice and policy as a framework by which to analyze China’s own preferences. This paper then explores the main features of China’s FTAs, finding that it has adopted a flexible FTA strategy that attends …

The Irony Of International Business Law: U.S. Progressivism And China's New Laissez Faire, Andrew B. Spalding

Law Faculty Publications

As the financial crisis draws U.S. business overseas and developing countries rise in influence, the regulation of international business has never figured so prominendy in federal law. But the dominant paradigm through which academics and policymakers continue to view that law-the so-called Washington Consensus-proves deeply misleading. A more accurate account of the components, origins, and aims of U.S. international business law reveals two striking ironies.

First, in discrete but critical ways, the United States no longer represents the comparatively laissez-faire approach to federal business regulation. Rather, owing to its origins in the Progressive Era, U.S. federal law directs corporations toward …

Navigating Through U.S.-China Policy: An Investigation Of China National Off-Shore Oil Corporation's Proposed Acquisition Of Unocal Corporation And How Domestic Politics Plays A Role In Balancing U.S. Trade Policy With National Security Policy, Vicki Lynn Spencer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation, Ltd. ( CNOOC) attempted to buy American-owned Unocal Corporation, it unleashed a "perfect storm" in Washington. Members of Congress immediately called upon President Bush to invoke his Exon-Florio authority to prevent the transaction. After the president claimed action would be premature, Congress quickly coalesced to block the deal. The Chinese expressed surprise at the political backlash and ultimately CNOOC was forced to withdraw its bid.

The purpose of this study is to explain the fervor that arose over CNOOC's proposed acquisition of Unocal. The study builds upon the theoretical approach of new institutionalism which …

China’S Response To The Global Financial Crisis: Implications For U.S. – China Economic Relations , Daniel C.K. Chow

Global Business Law Review

The consequences of the global financial crisis for United States-China economic relations are still unfolding, and it is still unclear whether trade tensions will escalate into trade sanctions. What seems clear, however, is that there is a rising tide of protectionism in both countries based upon what hardliners on each side perceive to be unfair practices and policies implemented by the other. Historically, mutual policies of protectionism between trading partners leads to trade sanctions, which would be an unfortunate result for United States-China economic relations. It remains to be seen whether hardliners in both countries will push the two trading …

Taking Justice Into Your Own Hand: The Tbi Mechanism In China, Henry Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

To protect the trade interests of their firms in foreign markets, several countries have established various institutional arrangements. For example, the United States has the section 301 procedure, while the EU has the Trade Barrier Regulation (TBR). Learning from their experiences, China also established its own Foreign Trade Barrier Investigation (TBI) mechanism in 2002. This article starts with a discussion on the background for its establishment as well as the substantive and procedural requirements for investigations under TBI. In the next part, the article discusses how TBI has worked in practice by reviewing the Japan – Quantitative Restrictions on Laver …

Private Regulation And Foreign Conduct, Adam I. Muchmore

Faculty Scholarship

Current U.S. policy on safety regulation for imported food is based largely on ex post measures. Several reform proposals seek to strengthen the ex ante component of this regulatory program. These proposals rely on one or more of three basic strategies: direct extraterritorial regulation; delegation of regulatory authority to private entities; and delegation of regulatory authority to foreign government agencies. This paper explores the ability of each strategy to respond to several principal-agent problems relevant to imported-food safety: the regulatory license problem; interest group capture; and the reality of bribery and threats in many food-exporting countries. Through the lens of …

An Entity Sui Generis In The Wto: Taiwan's Wto Membership And Its Trade Law Regime, Han-Wei Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As one of the founding members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Taiwan (the Republic of China or ROC) - the 17th largest economy, was granted accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2001 after its observer status of eleven years. Taiwan, classified by most commentators as an "unrecognized state" or an "entity sui generis", has been excluded from most of the major international organizations. Taiwan's accession to the WTO, therefore, is considered to be an important breakthrough in diplomacy for the past decades. Notwithstanding its WTO membership, the Taiwanese Government has employed numerous trade …

The Olympic Spotlight: The Beijing Games And China As A Future World Leader, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

According to Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s article, if the Chinese think they can censor the Olympics, and the political showcasing that will almost certainly accompany them, they are sorely mistaken. I am persuaded by the thrust of this argument. I just hope that as China vies for global leadership and influence, whatever truths the Olympic spotlight reveals about its potential in this regard are more farcical than tragic.