Introduction

The authority and the scope of the ability of members of the WTO to impose anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures (collectively referred to as trade remedies) is to be found in the different WTO multilateral agreements on trade in goods. These agreements share some similarities in concepts, procedures and language, as well as economic and political underpinnings. At the same time, the theoretical, political and historical dissimilarities in the remedies have contributed to their being arranged in different agreements. As responses to ‘unfair’ international trade and ‘exceptional emergency’ situations, the remedies essentially rely on national trade restrictive measures. These national measures are sometimes to be found in one domestic piece of legislation, while drawing upon the same national administrative apparatus. Trade remedies thus constitute a discrete branch of international trade regulation, with allied interpretative issues and concerns.

A focus on interpretative issues surrounding trade remedies is important for three main reasons. First and foremost, from an external perspective the trade remedies are set against the general liberal trade ethos in the WTO. They focus attention, therefore, on the interpretative tensions between that ethos and what is enshrined in the agreements by way of authority for the use of trade restrictions in prescribed circumstances. Second, as they are national defensive, as well as potentially offensive, measures, the manner in which these remedies are allowed to operate is of particular interest to national authorities and the membership of the WTO as a whole. Third, the agreements on remedies have generated considerable WTO jurisprudence and are likely to continue to do so.