News Release

July 30, 2001

Spread of antidumping regulations threatens U.S. exports
Cato study calls for lawmakers to reassess the wisdom of antidumping protectionism

WASHINGTON-Antidumping laws have long been abused by U.S. industries seeking protection from foreign competition. In recent years, however, many other countries have begun utilizing this protectionist tool. As a result, U.S. exports are increasingly cut up in the antidumping crossfire.

In "Coming Home to Roost: Proliferating Antidumping Laws and the Growing Threat to U.S. Exports," Brink Lindsey and Daniel Ikenson, director and trade policy analyst, respectively, at the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, conclude that, "The rapid spread of antidumping protectionism throughout the world threatens to undo many of the liberalizing gains made through the elimination of quotas and import licenses and the slashing of tariff rates. On the global level, the integrity of the world trading system is being undermined by the increasing frequency and virulence of antidumping activity." Lindsey and Ikenson document the explosion of antidumping measures:

• During the 1990s there were 2,483 antidumping investigations worldwide-over 50 percent more than during the 1980s.
• The number of jurisdictions imposing antidumping measures jumped from 12 to 28 between 1993 and 1999. A total of 62 jurisdictions now have antidumping laws on their books.
• Between 1995 and 2000, the United States was the third most popular target of antidumping measures worldwide-trailing only China and Japan.
• The United States is a net antidumping target-there are more measures against U.S. exports than U.S. measures against imports-with respect to the 34 nations that would comprise a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

"It is past time for U.S. policymakers to widen their view of antidumping's effects," Lindsey and Ikenson argue. Before, downstream import-using industries and American consumers were left to suffer; now, with the worldwide spread of antidumping protectionism, so are U.S exporters. "With that broadened perspective, they should see that international negotiations to address the antidumping problem are emphatically in the U.S. national interest. In the WTO, or the FTAA, or in bilateral initiatives, U.S. trade officials should join together with like-minded governments to stem and then reverse the tide of antidumping proliferation," Lindsey and Ikenson say.

"Coming Home to Roost: Antidumping Proliferation and the Growing Threat to U.S. Imports"