The United States' discriminatory protectionism against China

The article examines the characteristics of the United States' (US) discriminatory protection measures, especially the antidumping (AD) duties, against China. China has been the most significant target of US trade protectionism in terms of the absolute number as well as the intensity of measures. There exists a positive relationship between the US bilateral trade deficit and the increase in the number of its discriminatory trade protection measures against China. US AD decisions against China have been led by the chemical industry, followed by the iron and steel industry. It is expected that the number of US discriminatory trade protection measures against the Chinese textile products will increase in the coming years, since the ten-year phase-out of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) was completed at the end of 2004. Since discriminatory trade restrictions are costly in terms of the welfare of the concerned countries, it would be necessary for them to apply stricter regulations regarding the discriminatory protection measures.