Summary of content:
As a trade protection measure recognized and permitted by GATT and the World Trade Organization, anti-dumping is an internationally accepted means of protecting domestic industries and is also used to deal with unfair competition. Necessary tools. It is legal in form, easy to implement, can effectively protect domestic industries, and is not prone to retaliation. In recent years, Chinese products have repeatedly filed anti-dumping complaints on international platforms. Identifying the reasons for foreign anti-dumping accusations against Chinese products and taking corresponding countermeasures have become a top priority for Chinese companies to further expand the international market, and have also become a concern in the theoretical circles. focus. This article will analyze the current situation and characteristics of foreign anti-dumping complaints against China and clarify its reasons, and then
1. The current situation and characteristics of foreign anti-dumping complaints against China
In the past 20 years, China’s The economy and export trade have achieved rapid growth. However, as my country's commodity export trade volume increases and its ranking on the world export list rises, the countries that initiate anti-dumping investigations against my country have gradually expanded. "For example, from the 1980s, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Japan In recent years, developed countries have gradually expanded to include some developing countries, such as Mexico, India, Egypt, South Africa, Peru and Turkey, which have also frequently initiated anti-dumping investigations against my country. "In addition, in recent years, my country has been listed as one of the most anti-dumping products in the world by some countries such as Europe and the United States. The number one target of anti-dumping, so anti-dumping investigation cases against my country’s export enterprises and export products have continued one after another. “Based on the statistics of the WTO and the statistics of the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, from August 1979, the European Union’s exports to my country Since the first anti-dumping case against Saccharin was initiated in early December 2001, 29 countries including Europe and the United States have filed a total of 477 anti-dumping cases against China. my country has become the country with the most anti-dumping investigations in the world in 2000. The total number of anti-dumping cases was 251, of which 33 were prosecuted against my country. Anti-dumping cases against China accounted for more than 13% of the world's total, but China's export volume accounted for only 9% of the world's total in 2001. From January to mid-November this year, my country has received 34 foreign anti-dumping complaints, which has exceeded the number of anti-dumping complaints in 2000." Obviously, China has become the biggest victim of the world’s anti-dumping wave. Frequent anti-dumping of products exported to China by various countries has constituted a substantial obstacle to my country's economic and trade development.
From the current analysis of the current situation of foreign anti-dumping against China, we can draw the following characteristics:
(1) Developed countries, mainly the EU, are the "main force" in anti-dumping accusations against China. . Among the countries and regions that have filed anti-dumping charges against Chinese products, the EU has always been the "leader". The first anti-dumping accusation my country encountered originated from the European Union. In recent years, the EU has made increasing accusations of anti-dumping against foreign and regional products. According to a statistical report published by the European Commission, “In 1999 alone, the EU implemented 89 cases of anti-dumping and countervailing measures against products from other countries and regions, an increase of 61 cases from the previous year, of which 12 cases involved products from mainland China. (1 case in 1998). In the first quarter of this year, the EU imposed temporary anti-dumping duties on 22 imported products and imposed permanent anti-dumping duties on 9 imported products."
(2) The targets of anti-dumping are mostly concentrated on China’s “competent products” exported, which has greatly affected the stability and growth of China’s export growth. “For example, the EU has implemented anti-dumping measures against my country’s color TV sets, bicycles, bags, footwear products, hot-rolled flat steel products, and malleable iron pipe fittings. In particular, it has imposed an anti-dumping tax of up to 44.6% on China’s exports of color TV sets, which has almost caused my country’s color TV sets to withdraw from the EU market. The annual import volume of this market is 10 to 15 million units. The export market is shrinking, which is also an external reason for my country's domestic color TV companies to engage in price wars. In addition, Argentina, our second largest trading partner in Latin America, is interested in Chinese textiles, clothing, and footwear. High anti-dumping duties have also been levied on products, toys, etc.”
(3) The countries and regions that initiated anti-dumping began to extend from developed countries to developing countries and regions. In recent years, while developed countries such as the European Union and the United States have increasingly filed anti-dumping accusations against China, developing countries and regions such as Russia, Indonesia, Argentina, and Taiwan have also joined the ranks of anti-dumping accusations against China. For example, Argentina has filed anti-dumping accusations against my country. It ranges from high value-added products and textiles such as electromechanical and chemical industries. Anti-dumping measures have been implemented on a wide range of bulk products such as clothing and toys, as well as low value-added products such as tableware, fireworks, padlocks, and playing cards, seriously affecting bilateral trade.
(4) Anti-dumping litigation has become an important legal tool for multinational companies to deal with the impact of Chinese products in the global market. From the perspective of comparative advantage theory, developing countries have the comparative advantage of lower labor costs than developed countries. Therefore, under open economic conditions, the former's comparative advantage in labor-intensive products and the latter's comparative advantage in technology and capital-intensive products Types of products are exchanged in the market, and both parties draw on their own strengths. Due to restrictions on trade conditions, market dependence and non-price competitive factors, developing countries are generally at a disadvantage.
However, judging from the actual situation, due to the existence of exit obstacles such as capital precipitation and labor transfer, some multinational companies in developed countries are unwilling to exit the production of labor-intensive products, or extend the exit time as much as possible. In this way, before the industrial structure is upgraded, the government needs to provide some degree of trade protection. China's export products are characterized by low prices, large quantities, and dispersed manufacturers, making them easy targets for foreign anti-dumping lawsuits.
2. Reasons and analysis of why China has repeatedly received foreign anti-dumping complaints
Anti-dumping of Chinese products has indeed become a "stumbling block" to China's exports, and as the scale of China's exports expands year by year , this problem will be severely highlighted in front of China's foreign trade authorities and industry for a long time. Knowing ourselves and our enemies, and carefully analyzing the reasons why China has repeatedly been subject to foreign anti-dumping is conducive to the smooth progress of China's exports.
(1) The objective existence of low-price dumping has become the trigger for anti-dumping litigation. Foreign anti-dumping investigations on my country's export products are not groundless to a certain extent. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, our country's economy has achieved rapid development. However, due to the unstandardized market, the phenomenon of blind following the trend is widespread, which has led to a large number of market behaviors that lack targeted duplication and blind development. As a result, a large number of excess products appeared on the market, and companies adopted low-price dumping strategies in order to survive in their domestic and export sales strategies. "In terms of export prices, a Hong Kong publication surveyed 160 types of my country's export products and found that 120 items were 20% lower than they should be. This shows that the phenomenon of selling Chinese products to foreign countries at lower than normal prices is indeed It exists within a certain range. At the same time, there is also a lot of data showing that the low-price sales of some exporters in my country have caused substantial damage to the domestic industry of similar products in the importing country."
There are comprehensive underlying reasons for the dumping of products by Chinese enterprises. First, according to the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, the reason why trade exists between two countries is due to the difference in commodity prices. Related to my country's national conditions, the prices of raw materials and human resources in my country's product production market are relatively low. Therefore, companies are well-positioned to rely on low-price strategies to develop international markets, enhance the competitiveness of their products, and expand exports. Secondly, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises in our country do not pay attention to introducing and learning advanced management and sales concepts, resulting in backward sales concepts. They still widely adopt a relatively single price strategy in marketing and do not pay attention to the improvement of their own products in terms of performance, services and other hardware aspects. This must also be reflected in their export sales strategy. Once again, the export structure is unbalanced. From the perspective of product structure, my country exports mostly labor-intensive textiles, mechanical and electrical products, and chemical products. The added value of the products is relatively low, which can easily give the impression of low-price dumping to importing countries. From the perspective of market structure, 65% of our country targets Europe and the United States. Exports are too concentrated and competition is fierce. In addition, it is also related to the lack of guidance from the government and some departments in blindly encouraging exports.
(2) The impact of state control on the market operation model in my country’s economic system and enterprise operation model. my country's 1993 Constitutional Amendment clearly stipulates the implementation of a socialist market economy. Obviously, what we want to implement is not a Western market economy. There are certain differences between our socialist market economy and the Western market economy. In the past 20 years, although our country has adopted many reform measures in the process of moving towards the market, such as implementing a single exchange rate system through exchange rate integration, allowing and encouraging foreign investment to enter many domestic production areas, and establishing markets for production means, labor and capital. To promote the rational allocation of resources, however, whether from the perspective of economic system or analysis of economic theory, my country cannot be classified as a market economy country. Since the laws of European and American countries generally have standards for distinguishing market economic systems from non-market economic systems, "some of the main standards include: the degree of free convertibility of a country's currency; the freedom of labor and capital the extent to which wages are negotiated; the extent of state control over the means of production, resource allocation and ownership, etc.” In view of the fact that most of the economic operating entities in my country's current economic operating mechanism are all state-owned or controlled by the state, it is also common for the state to directly manage or pre-operate enterprises through its ownership. In addition, Foreign exchange under the capital account is still under control, and some monopoly industries are restricted from entering. On the one hand, the above situation reflects the difference between the current economic operation model and the general market economy model. On the other hand, it also affects the impact of various countries on our country. The operating mode of the economic system is mainly through objective evaluation of the allocation of resources, means of production, labor and capital through the market.
(3) Trade protectionists abuse the anti-dumping provisions of the WTO agreement. Anti-dumping is a legal means allowed by the WTO to protect domestic industries. According to the WTO "Anti-dumping Agreement", governments of various countries must impose anti-dumping duties on an imported product. They must not only prove that there is "dumping" of an imported product, but also that dumping has caused harm to the domestic industry of the importing country that produces similar products. In order to prove the damage, it is also necessary to prove that there is a causal relationship between the dumping of the imported product and the damage to the industry, "that is, the damage to similar industries in the importing country is caused by the dumping of the imported product." However, the agreement does not make a specific judgment on whether "dumping" constitutes unfair competition. Instead, it sets out rules for each member state on whether they can take anti-dumping measures.
Since the WTO agreement has clearly restricted countries from using non-tariff barriers such as quotas and licenses to protect their own industries, anti-dumping measures, a legal means of protecting their own industries allowed by the WTO, are used by all countries as a legal means of protecting their own industries. , frequently used to oppose unfair competition from other countries. In recent years, some countries have continuously strengthened their anti-dumping legislation, reduced the constituent elements of dumping, and expanded the scope of anti-dumping investigations. The abuse of anti-dumping measures by trade protectionists in various countries is specifically reflected in the massive increase in anti-dumping cases around the world.
3. my country’s countermeasures to deal with foreign anti-dumping complaints
(1) Seize the opportunity of joining the WTO, improve the socialist economic price system, adjust and optimize the export commodity structure, and improve product quality. It is necessary to give full play to the role of the law of value, enable enterprises to become the true subjects of the market economy, bear risks independently, directly link product prices to commodity values, and establish a market economy price system. It is particularly important to minimize the types of goods priced by the state to promote the early establishment of a socialist market economy price system. In this way, even if our company's export goods encounter anti-dumping complaints from manufacturers in importing countries, since the price of our company's export goods is mainly determined by market factors and is not subject to national pricing control, it may be possible to be based on European and American anti-dumping laws. Relevant regulations strive to obtain separate tax rates for the companies involved and even the market economy status of the entire industry, so that the so-called surrogate country standards in the anti-dumping laws of Europe and the United States are no longer applicable to the companies involved in the case. At the same time, our country should actively comply with market requirements and reform products. structure, abandon duplication of construction, implement product differentiation strategies, enhance product added value, and avoid excessive competition among enterprises in low value-added products. The Ministry of Commerce, industry associations and export chambers of commerce are required to promptly review the sales status and channels of exported goods, understand the impact of their exported goods on similar products in the importing country, and actively help companies respond to complaints.
(2) Straighten out the enterprise property rights system as soon as possible and minimize and eliminate the state’s direct management and control of enterprises. "European and American anti-dumping laws believe that in a market economy country, the government usually plays a minimal role in resource allocation and price determination. Private enterprises, on the other hand, are driven by profits and make their business decisions based on changes in market supply and demand, without interference from the government. Therefore, the products and production costs of private enterprises can more reasonably reflect the economic reality. "For our export enterprises, if they can be recognized by foreign administrative authorities as their market economy status, it means that the costs and prices of our export products will be higher." Otherwise, the production cost and product price of the enterprise involved will not be recognized, but the cost of similar products in a third country with a so-called market economy will be used as a substitute price. Since this alternative price option is highly uncertain, it will cause substantial unfairness and discrimination to our export enterprises. Faced with the above situation, our export enterprises must, on the one hand, promote their own property rights system through their own institutional reforms, and use this as the basis for establishing a modern enterprise system. In addition, existing state-owned enterprises must also speed up their joint-stock reform, and on the premise of rationalizing the property rights system of state-owned enterprises, effectively mechanically cut off the connection between enterprises and the state in property rights, so as to further reduce and eliminate The state's direct management and control of enterprises creates good objective conditions.
(3) Use the WTO multilateral dispute settlement mechanism to fight back against discriminatory treatment against me by various countries. Although China's accession to the WTO will not immediately change the status quo of China's frequent anti-dumping complaints from foreign countries, after joining the WTO, my country can use its voice in the multilateral trading system to safeguard my country's legitimate rights and interests. In terms of using the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to challenge these discriminatory practices, my country should increase its efforts to evaluate the laws and regulations of European and American countries on anti-dumping complaints and the discriminatory policies of my country in WTO rules, so as to pass the multilateral WTO as soon as possible. trade system to maintain the normal treatment our country deserves.
(4) Enterprises that are subject to anti-dumping complaints must actively respond to the complaints. In view of the current situation that international anti-dumping cases on China's export products have remained high, export enterprises should take precautions before the occurrence of international anti-dumping cases and take various preventive measures as early as possible. To this end, they must promptly and fully understand their export products or The sales prices and trends of other similar export products in the importing country, as well as the various impacts of the export products on similar industries in the importing country. At the same time, in order to ensure that domestic enterprises actively respond to foreign anti-dumping lawsuits, industry associations or chambers of commerce for import and export can consider establishing a response fund. Enterprises participating in the association will pay an annual response fund in proportion to their export volume. Once similar export products encounter foreign anti-dumping accusations, , the respondent fund will pay relevant response expenses, including attorney fees and organizational costs for joint enterprise response. When an international anti-dumping case occurs, the enterprises involved should actively respond. Only by actively responding can it be possible to obtain better response results. This mainly includes the following aspects: "① Export enterprises should understand the requirements of anti-dumping response forms as early as possible and prepare response materials. Once an anti-dumping case occurs, foreign anti-dumping authorities will require the enterprises involved to respond to various questions in a timely manner within the specified time. Export enterprises should fill in the questionnaire carefully based on the objective situation; ② Export enterprises must organize quickly and actively respond to the lawsuit with the coordination and support of the national anti-dumping authorities, industry associations and chambers of commerce for import and export; ③ Hire qualified personnel Experienced and friendly local attorneys defended and handled my case.
It is not only necessary to hire local lawyers to conduct anti-dumping litigation, but also necessary. This is not only because local lawyers have numerous personnel and business contacts with relevant authorities, but more importantly, they are familiar with local laws and complex litigation procedures and procedures, and generally Generally speaking, only local lawyers have the right to access files and information related to this case under oath, especially confidential materials. This way I can know myself and the enemy, so that the defense can be carried out more effectively and a result that is favorable to me can be achieved.
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