WTO Decision on Additional U.S. Duties on Chinese Imports

Abstract

Dispute DS543 between China and the United States is unique for many reasons. It revealed a lot of complex issues. Among them, the meaning of the phrase “a settlement of the matter” under Article 12.7 of the DSU; whether economic considerations could fall within the scope of “public morals” under Article XX(a) of GATT 1994; what are the criteria for abuse of the WTO dispute settlement system; whether Article 11 of the DSU requires panels to take into account historical and practical aspects of bilateral relations between the disputing parties. There are no ready answers to these questions. Besides, each of them is of great importance both for the results of future disputes and for the further development of the WTO procedural law. The Panel Report also introduced for the first time Section “Concluding Comments” in which the Panel shared its “observations” on some critical issues of law and legal process. Th e legal status of the Panel’s reflections is unclear.