Journal of Interdisciplinary History and Human Societies
Surrogate Country Methodology in WTO Disputes Involving China from Legal Ambiguity to Systemic Reform
Abstract
Muhammad Asif Sarwar
The mechanism of a surrogate country empowers WTO signatories to substitute the costs or prices of the third country for those of the exporting region in anti-dumping (AD) examination. This has been the pivotal and problematic element for China’s alignment with the multilateral trading system multilateral in nature. Drawing from the provisions of price comparability with respect to China’s WTO Accession Protocol, more specifically Section 15(a), the procedure has produced a remarkable volume of bilateral disputes at the WTO, rulings of the panel, and reports of the Appellate Body over the last couple of years. The current study investigates the evolution. regulatory foundations, and systemic repercussions of the surrogate nation procedure as applied to the Chinese exports [1].
Considering the comprehensive evaluation of the WTO jurisprudence, for instance, remarkable disputes DS516 (EU– Price Comparison Methodologies), CVD, DS471 (US–AD Methodologies), DS397 (EC–Fasteners), and DS449 (US–Anti- Dumping coupled with the scientific appraisal of the scholarly studies, the current study recognizes the trajectory of the mechanism from its focal justification as a provisional safeguarding to its conflicted post-2016 status [2]. This assessment has been finished in three stages: First, it investigates the regulatory text as well as its competing explanations; second, it recognizes the forms of punitive outcomes across the dispute manuals in the WTO; third, it investigates the implications of the policy relative to the contemporary regulatory uncertainty for the multilateral trading order at the WTO [3].
The study shows that, despite the termination of Section 15(a)(ii) on 11 December 2016, the self-governing authorization for the procedure officially expired, and political and organizational elements were prohibited from reaching a conclusive resolution, leaving the framework of the WTO in a precarious normative ambiguity state . The research concludes with a reform proposal that is based on evolving jurisprudence about the specific market condition perspective as a possible WTO-compliant pathway ahead [4-6].