WTO Ruling On Vietnamese Shrimp Is One of Many Rulings Against U.S.

The membership of the United States in the World Trade Organization (WTO) has made it nearly impossible for the U.S. to instate trade policies that are in the best interest of the country. In fact, the United States loses 9 out of 10 cases that are brought against it in the WTO.

Economy in Crisis has prepared a new report that documents all of the cases that the United States has lost in the World Trade Organization. Entitled “Summary and Analysis of World Trade Organization Cases Lost By The United States”, the report reads as a history of economic setbacks. It appears that nearly every action the United States takes to protect its domestic industries is ruled to be illegal by the World Trade Organization.

One of the cases outlined in the report is a case brought by Vietnam this year against the U.S. for its use of zeroing to determine anti-dumping duties on shrimp. The practice has been highly criticized because it does not take into account the products that are sold in the U.S. at or above fair market value, resulting in higher tariffs than if zeroing were not used.

Vietnam claimed that the “continued use of zeroing” was leading to unfair tariffs against shrimp imported from Vietnam and other countries. The WTO Panel upheld this claim, and ruled in Vietnam’s favor. The ruling means that the U.S. will have to remove the anti-dumping duties or face retaliatory measures from Vietnam.

This is just another demonstration of how the WTO keeps the U.S. from acting in its own best interest. Our country should be able to set its tariffs at whatever rate we deem necessary to stop the dumping of goods in our country, and should not be held accountable for doing so by any international body. If we rid ourselves of our obligation to the WTO we will once again be able to act freely to protect our own industries.

October 23, 2011

Source: EconomyInCrisis.org