Which countries are the biggest users of trade remedy actions? Which countries are the most often targets of these investigations? What are the global trends in these cases?

Here’s some very interesting data from the WTO concerning antidumping cases, countervailing duty proceeding and safeguard actions:

• The two leading countries initiating countervailing duty investigations in 1995-2010 were: India 48 and China 43. (The U.S. had 12.)

• The two leading countries initiating antidumping investigations in 1995-2010 were: China 804 and Korea 273. (The U.S. had 224.)

• The two leading countries initiating safeguard investigations in 1995-2010 were: India 26 and Turkey / Jordan 15. (The U.S. had 10.)

• New antidumping investigations declined 29% from 2009 to 2010. India and the EU reported the most new ones.

• New safeguard actions declined worldwide from 43 to 26 in 2010 (3rd quarter compared to the 1st quarter).

The following is data from the Congressional Research Service concerning antidumping actions for 1995 – 2005:

• The three most often targets of antidumping actions were India, U.S. and the EU.

• The four most often initiating antidumping actions were China, the EU, South Korea and the U.S.

The above is very interesting. The U.S. is not the biggest user of trade remedy actions or the biggest target for such global actions. In fact, the numbers of such actions globally have actually been declining.