US Ambassador to WTO Asks for Open Mind on Reform
After two days of feedback from delegations at the World Trade Organization, as part of a regular trade review (see 2212140071), Ambassador Maria Pagan said she was glad that many are appreciating the discussions American diplomats are having with their counterparts on dispute settlement reform.
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"We do not prejudge what a reformed system would look like, and we likewise ask other Members to approach these conversations with an open mind. We believe that working collectively toward a system that meets the needs of all Members provides the greatest chance of achieving durable, lasting reform," she said.
She also defended trade remedy law, since a number of delegations said they're concerned about how many cases are prosecuted in the U.S. She said a rise in cases is not a government choice, since the system is petitioner-led.
"Second, the size of the U.S. market, coupled with relatively low tariffs, make us a more attractive target for others to dump their goods on our market. Third, a few Members continue to confound U.S. trade remedies with a deeper and more worrying problem that the remedies aim to address -- namely, injurious dumping and subsidization by others. It is important to maintain some perspective. While the United States accounted for nearly 20 percent of all initiated antidumping investigations from July 2019 to July 2022, 25 percent of all such investigations -- one quarter -- were initiated in response to trade from one Member -- China."