Disputes Roundup: New US-China Cases Filed, Rulings for Indonesian Disputes Released

The start of the new year has marked a particularly busy time for the global trade arbiter, with a number of new complaints launched and several dispute reports released in late December and early January. Among these was the ruling of a dispute panel which rejected the majority of Indonesia’s claims against the EU for the latter’s anti-dumping measures on imported fatty alcohols. Another panel has found that Indonesian import licensing regimes violate global trade rules, limiting agriculture imports from New Zealand and the United States. Separately, the US has requested a panel to review Chinese price support for grains and filed a new dispute challenging the administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on grains. The US has also filed a new case alleging that China has been unfairly subsidising aluminium producers. Another issue that will continue to draw the attention of trade watchers is the ongoing debate over China’s market economy status. The Asian economy requested consultations with the EU and US over “non-market economy” treatment in anti-dumping determinations in mid-December, and could request panels to address the issue as early as February should these consultations fail to lead to a mutually agreed solution. New aluminium case Last week,...