1、Lets Talk about Trade Policy and Trade IssuesMD, who else?I Preliminary Knowledge1 Tariff(1) Specific Tariff（从量关税）Weight, quantity, volume(2) Ad Valorem Tariff（从价关税）A percentage of the price(3) Compound Tariff（复合关税）A mixture of specific tariff and ad valorem tariff2 Non-tariff(1) Quota(2) License（进口
2、许可证）General license and specific license; usually combined with quota, bidding(3) Custom Valuation(4) Technical Barriers(5) Environment issues(6) GMO（Genetically Modified Organism，转基因生物）3 VER & VIE(1) VER(Voluntary Export Restriction)(2) VIE(Voluntary Import Expansion)Aiming at trade balance, either
3、 domestic or foreign.II GATT & Agreements1 Historical Perspective of WTO(1) Havana Charter (GATT 1947)a) Background: protectionism after WW II, Great Depression, need to establish ITO (International Trade Organization);b) The charter is mainly about trade and commercial policies, employment, economi
4、c activities, economic reconstruction, investment, restrictive business practice;c) Failed to meet some countries interest, but much content of Commercial policy survived in GATT 1947, provisional rather than legal;(2) Marrakesh Agreements (establishing WTO)a) The importance of Uruguay Round on Marr
5、akesh Agreements and the establishment of WTO;b) Including Agreements about trade in commodity, GATS, TRIPs, DSU(Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes), TPRM, PTA(Plurilateral Trade Agreements);c) Entered into force on 1 Jan. 1995, 128 GATT signatories;d) 160 mem
6、bers since 26 Jun. 20142 GATT 1947(1) Basic Principles of WTOa) Nondiscrimination(MFN, NT), Graduation Clauseb) Trade Liberalization(tariff, non-tariff, market access)c) Transparenced) Fair Competition(2) MFN clause-Article Ia) Most-Favored-Nation Treatment(MFN): any advantage, favor, privilege or i
7、mmunity granted by any contracting party to any product shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the like product of all other contracting parties;b) Accord the basic principles, nondiscrimination, promote trade liberalization as its Multilateral;c) Exceptions: GSP, FTA, Anti-dumping. sa
8、fety issues, etc.d) Chinas benefits: double-edged sword;(3) National Treatment-Article IIIa) National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation: the contracting parties should treat imported products and domestic products equally in terms of internal taxes and/or other internal charges, laws, re
9、gulations, and requirements;b) Exceptions: government procurement, domestic subsidies, etc.c) Preference Policy and NT: depending on different industries;(4) Anti-dumping-Article VIa) Dumping: products of one country are exported to another country at a price less than the normal value, and is cause
10、s or threatens material injury to the importers industry;b) “normal value” is defined by the comparable price, in the ordinary course of trade, for the like product for consumption in the exporting country; or if domestic price not available: the highest comparable price for the like product exporte
11、d to a third country, or the cost of the product plus a reasonable additional for selling and profit;c) Determinants in dumping: Dumping Margin and Material Injury(5) Rule of Origin(RoO)-Article IXa) Marks of Origin: marks, characters, patterns, etc. that indicate the original country/region of an i
12、mported product or service;b) Article 7: contracting parties cooperate to minimize the difficulties, and to prevent misrepresent of the true origin;c) Determining origin and whether “substantial transformation”: value-added, process test, change in tariff classification(CTC);d) Controversial issue o
13、n trade balance: different standards to determine origin and processing trade;e) MFN or not determined by the origin of the product;(6) Administration of Trade Regulations-Article Xa) Publication: laws, regulations, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general application about internati
14、onal trade (e.g. custom classification and valuation, rates of duty/taxes, requirements, restrictions, etc.) shall be published promptly to enable traders become acquainted with them;b) Administration: contracting parties shall maintain, or institute judicial, arbitral, or administrative procedures
15、to deal with custom matters, and administrate laws, regulations in a uniform and reasonable way;(7) QRs(Quantitative Restrictions)-Article XIa) Elimination of QRs: except duties, taxes or other charges, contracting parties shall eliminate restrictions made effect through quotas, licenses or other me
16、asures.b) Exceptions: food, agriculture or fisheries product. (shortage or surplus)(8) General Exceptions-Article XXa) Protect public morals;b) Protect human, animal or plant life or health;c) Trade relating to gold or silver;d) Secure compliance with laws or regulations consistent with the provisio
17、ns (e.g. intellectual property);e) Prison labor products;f) National treasures;g) Exhaustible resources;h) Intergovernmental commodity agreement that are approved;i) Ensure essential domestic quantities;j) General or local short supply;(9) State Trading Enterprise-Article XVIIa) Contracting parties
18、can establish or maintain state enterprises, but they shall act in a manner consistent with general principles of non-discriminatory treatment for governmental measures affecting trades by private traders;b) Such enterprises shall make purchases or sales solely in accordance with commercial consider
19、ations, including price, quality, availability, transportation, etc.c) Contracting parties shall not prevent enterprises from acting in accordance with the principles;(10) Subsidies-Article XVIa) Subsidies in General: when granting any subsidies, contracting parties shall notify other parties in wri
20、ting of the extent, nature, estimated effect and necessity;b) In case of serious prejudice, the contracting party granting the subsidy shall discuss with other parties about the possibility of limiting the subsidization;c) Additional Provisions: parties shall seek to avoid the use of subsidies on th
21、e export of primary products, or the subsidy shall not increase the partys equitable share of the world export in that product;(11) Implemental Mechanism-Article XXIVa) Territorial Application-Frontier Traffic-Customs Unions-Free Trade Areas, an exception of MFN(12) GSP(Generalized System of Prefere
22、nce)a) Between developed countries and developing countries;b) Nondiscrimination, unilateral;(13) History: Chinas reenter in GATTa) An original contracting party;b) Suspended its eligibility as a contracting party in 1950;c) Taiwan: observer to GATT in 1965;d) Chinas efforts to reenter in 1986;e) Co
23、mplexity of Chinas relevance to GATT;3 GATT 1994(1) The framework of URa) Agreements about trade in commodity, GATS, TRIPs, b) DSU(Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes), c) TPRMsd) PTA (Plurilateral Trade Agreements);(2) The initiatives of WTOa) Principles?(3) L
24、egal instruments under GATT 1947a) Tariff concession;b) Protocols of accession;c) Waiver granted under Article 25(4) Understanding on Paragraph1(2) Article IIa) Aims at promoting the transparency of the rights and obligations;b) Agreement to record in national schedules “other duties or charges”(whi
25、ch shall be exempted) levied in addition to the recorded tariff, and to bind them at the levels prevailing at the date established in the UR Protocol;(5) Understanding on Article XVIIa) To promote the transparency of state-trading enterprises activities, contracting parties shall report such enterpr
26、ises to the committee, regardless of whether export has happened or not;b) Increase surveillance of enterprises activities through stronger notification and review procedures;(6) Understanding on Article XVIIIa) Article 18: for the Balance-of-Payment(BOP) and development of economy, especially for t
27、he less developed countries, tariff protection and QRs can be imposed;b) The schedule for the restriction measures on import shall be notified as soon as possible;c) Contracting parties imposing restrictions for BOP purposes shall do so in the least trade-disruptive manner, and shall favor price-bas
28、ed measures, like import surcharges and import deposits, rather than quantitative restrictions.d) Agreement is also on procedure for consultations by GATT BOP Committee, as well as for notification.(7) Understanding on Article XXIVa) Clarify and reinforce the standard and procedures for the review o
29、f new or enlarged custom unions or FTA and for the evaluation of their effects on third parties;b) Clarify the procedure to be followed for achieving any necessary compensatory adjustment in the event of contracting parties forming a customs union seeking to increase a bound tariff;c) The obligation
30、s of contracting parties in regard to measures taken by regional or local governments or authorities within territories are also clarified;4 Other Agreements(1) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade（TBT，技术性贸易壁垒协议）a) Narrow TBT: processing and production methods related to the characteristics of t
31、he product itself;b) Dilemma on Broad TBT: needs for industrialization vs. potentiality toward protection;c) This agreement will extend and clarify the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade reached in the Tokyo Round. It seeks to ensure that technical negotiations and standards, as well as testin
32、g and certification procedures, do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. However, it recognizes that countries have the right to establish protection, at levels they consider appropriate, for example for human, animal or plant life or health or the environment, and should not be prevented from
33、taking measures necessary to ensure those levels of protection are met. The agreement therefore encourages countries to use international standards where these are appropriate, but it does not require them to change their levels of protection as a result of standardization.Innovative features of the
34、 revised agreement are that it covers processing and production methods related to the characteristics of the product itself. The coverage of conformity assessment procedures is enlarged and the disciplines made more precise. Notification provisions applying to local government and non-governmental
35、bodies are elaborated in more detail than in the Tokyo Round agreement. A Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards by standardizing bodies, which is open to acceptance by private sector bodies as well as the public sector, is included as an annex to the agreem
36、ent.(2) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures（SPS，实施动植物卫生检疫措施协议）a) Specific in the protection of human health and ecological balance,(3) Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures（TRIMs，与贸易有关的投资措施协议）a) This Agreement, negotiated during the Uruguay Round, applies onl
37、y to measures that affect trade in goods. Recognizing that certain investment measures can have trade-restrictive and distorting effects, it states that no Member shall apply a measure that is prohibited by the provisions of GATT ArticleIII (national treatment) or ArticleXI (quantitative restriction
38、s). Examples of inconsistent measures, as spelled out in the Annexs Illustrative List, include local content or trade balancing requirements. The Agreement contains transitional arrangements allowing Members to maintain notified TRIMs for a limited time following the entry into force of the WTO 。The
39、 Agreement also establishes a Committee on TRIMs to monitor the operation and implementation of these commitments. (4) Agreement on Agriculture（农业协议）a) Long-term objectives: substantial progressive reduction in agricultural support;b) A decisive move towards the objective of increased market orienta
40、tion in agricultural trade;c) Total AMS(Aggregate Measure of Support): covers all support provided on either a product-specific or non-product-specific basis;d) Market access-tariffication: non-tariff border measures are replaced by tariffs that provide substantially same level of protection; Tariff
41、-quota: under 10% & outside 80%;e) Domestic support-amber, blue, green box. f) Amber box: All domestic support measures considered to distort production and trade (with some exceptions) fall into the amber box, which is defined in Article 6 of the Agriculture Agreement as all domestic supports excep
42、t those in the blue and green boxes. These include measures to support prices, or subsidies directly related to production quantities. These supports are subject to limits: “de minimis” minimal supports are allowed (5% of agricultural production for developed countries, 10% for developing countries)
43、; the 30WTO members that had larger subsidies than the de minimis levels at the beginning of the post-Uruguay Round reform period are committed to reduce these subsidies.g) Blue Box: This is the “amber box with conditions” conditions designed to reduce distortion. Any support that would normally be
44、in the amber box, is placed in the blue box if the support also requires farmers to limit production (details set out in Paragraph5 of Article6 of the Agriculture Agreement). At present there are no limits on spending on blue box subsidies. In the current negotiations, some countries want to keep th
45、e blue box as it is because they see it as a crucial means of moving away from distorting amber box subsidies without causing too much hardship. Others wanted to set limits or reduction commitments, some advocating moving these supports into the amber box.h) Green Box: In order to qualify, green box
46、 subsidies must not distort trade, or at most cause minimal distortion (paragraph1). They have to be government-funded (not by charging consumers higher prices) and must not involve price support. They tend to be programmes that are not targeted at particular products, and include direct income supp
47、orts for farmers that are not related to (are “decoupled” from) current production levels or prices. They also include environmental protection and regional development programmes. “Green box” subsidies are therefore allowed without limits, provided they comply with the policy-specific criteria set
48、out in Annex2. In the current negotiations, some countries argue that some of the subsidies listed in Annex2 might not meet the criteria of the annexs first paragraph because of the large amounts paid, or because of the nature of these subsidies, the trade distortion they cause might be more than minimal. Among the subsidies under discussion here are: direct payments to producers (paragraph5), including decoupled income support (paragraph6), and government financial support for income insurance and income safety-net programmes (parag
