The spectre of trade protectionism is flashing in the shadow of the global economic downturn. Trade protectionism is on the rise in the early morning of September 18. The US government announced that it has formally filed a complaint against the WTO WTO for China's subsidized vehicle and auto parts policy. On September 17, the Chinese side submitted a lawsuit against the US Tariff Amendment Act to the World Trade Organization (WTO), opposing the "overlord clause" in the bill. On September 6, the European Commission announced an anti-dumping investigation against Chinese PV products. This is just a few major trade friction cases related to China in the near future. According to statistics from the World Trade Organization, from mid-November to June this year, the G20 countries issued as many as 124 trade restrictions. The Director-General of the WTO, Lamy, has repeatedly expressed concern on the rise of trade protectionism on various occasions. At the end of August, he stated: "Economic difficulties should not be an excuse for political leaders to succumb to protectionism." In this regard, Ms. Chen Fengying, economist and director of the Institute of World Economics of China Modern International Relations Institute, believes that The "ghost reappearance" of protectionism is the aftermath of the global financial crisis. In the post-crisis era, the existing rules of the WTO need to be reformed, and it is necessary to establish a new framework mechanism. Empty trade, free trade, trade protection, trade protectionism, ghosts, and the most heart-wrenching, than the Great Depression of the 1930s. At that time, the United States enacted the "Smith-Hawley Tariff Act", which was led by the neighbors, and raised import tariffs on more than 900 commodities, resulting in an increase in the average tax rate on imported goods from 40% to 48%. This action immediately led to retaliation from other countries, which quickly triggered a global trade war, and the total world trade fell into a catastrophic recession. Since the harm to protectionism is greatly taboo, governments and their leaders have recently expressed their vigilance and opposition. In April this year, the G20 first meeting of economic and trade ministers reached a consensus on boycotting trade protectionism. In June, at the G20 Los Cabos Summit, the parties reached a consensus on eliminating trade barriers and promised to extend the anti-trade protectionist agreement that was due at the end of 2013 to 2014. During this period, all parties should avoid adding new barriers to investment, goods and services trade, not implementing new export restrictions, and not implementing measures that violate the rules of the World Trade Organization, including stimulus measures, in various fields. The APEC meeting communiqué, which was just closed, also stressed that all economies have the obligation to promote trade liberalization, investment facilitation, and consolidation of multilateral trade mechanisms in the region. However, in stark contrast to these frequent statements on the table, many countries have tacitly danced the "double-edged sword" of "protectionism" in private. The most influential case is the anti-dumping investigation of Chinese PV products in the EU, involving more than 20 billion US dollars (about 130 billion yuan). This is the largest trade lawsuit initiated by the EU against China, and 70% of Chinese PV companies are facing bankruptcy risks. Chen Fengying believes: "The different words and deeds of various countries on this issue are indicating that the protectionist pressure facing the world is becoming more and more prominent." She said that because the European debt crisis has not found a solution for a long time, the US economic recovery is faltering and emerging. The slowdown in market economic growth has slowed the growth of world trade. This provides soil and catalyst for the tough rise of protectionism. Many analysts believe that under the current world economic situation, relying on trade protection measures to protect domestic enterprises and barrier the domestic market is becoming a thirst-quenching choice for multinational politicians to ease public grievances and fight for votes. Trade protectionism has repeatedly been refurbished. Chen Fengying pointed out that in the current wave of trade protectionism, in addition to the traditional means of raising tariffs, some more implicit non-tariff measures are also emerging, such as tightening customs supervision and strengthening import license management. , national security review, etc. Trade protectionism under the new situation has also presented several new trends. First, trade friction has spread from past labor-intensive industries to technology-intensive industries. The United States has launched a countervailing complaint against the Chinese auto industry. Emerging industries such as telecommunications and new energy have also become the most frequent areas of trade litigation in recent years. Second, the use of technical barriers, especially "green barriers" to limit imports. Some developed countries in Europe and the United States use the rules of the WTO to protect the environment and impose harsh conditions on imported enterprises to restrict the entry of enterprises and products from developing countries. Third, it is difficult to import products in the field of intellectual property protection. The US International Trade Commission launched a “337 investigation†on 45 companies in May this year, including China Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. The so-called "337 investigation" refers to the investigation of the infringement of US intellectual property rights by imported products in accordance with Section 337 of the 1930 Tariff Act. In fact, since 2002, China has been the largest victim of the US “337 investigation†for nine consecutive years. Compared with the anti-dumping investigation, the "337 investigation" is more lethal. Fourth, questioning the ownership nature of Chinese companies and raising "security questions" against Chinese companies has also become an excuse for the US to suppress China's trade and investment. The US House Intelligence Committee held a public hearing on September 13th because it suspected that the communication devices of two Chinese companies, ZTE and Huawei, might have built-in intelligence devices and pose a threat to US national security. The two Chinese companies at the hearing proved that they are not state-owned enterprises and are not controlled by the state. Some analysts believe that the so-called "national security" reasons, but obstruct Chinese high-tech industry into the US market under the guise of. The need for trade protectionism and political institutions is the real driving force behind it. "Doha Round is dead" WTO rules must be updated The British "Economist" magazine recently published an editorial that the Doha Round is "dead" and that the WTO needs to establish a new multilateral consultation mechanism. The so-called Doha Round refers to a new round of multilateral trade negotiations initiated at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. This is the first multilateral trade negotiation mechanism with the mission of promoting development. It is also the most rounded and most contributory negotiation in developing countries. In the past 11 years, under the framework of the Doha Round, WTO developed members and developing members have held many meetings and consultations, but they have not been able to eliminate serious differences in the two key areas of agricultural and non- agricultural market access. The negotiations were interrupted, resumed, and interrupted several times. The number of missed "deadlines" was always fruitless. Chen Fengying said: "The Doha Round is not very interesting. Now, the problems facing the world economy and trade are not solved by the Doha Round. Under the new situation, the WTO must reset the rules and conduct trade and investment protection activities. A new round of negotiations.†Chen Fengying believes that after many years, the WTO has a relatively sound structure, especially the dispute settlement mechanism is playing an important role. However, after all, the WTO is an institution established before the “crisis†and a legacy of the Bretton Woods monetary system. Western developed countries dominated it, and the issue rights and decision-making power are mainly in the hands of the United States and Western countries. However, the current world economic structure has undergone structural changes, from the Western singer to the East and West, and the role of emerging economies is increasingly important. The vast majority of the WTO’s 156 members are emerging markets and developing economies. Therefore, WTO must establish a new framework mechanism, improve voice emerging economies. The WTO’s “one-vote veto†mechanism also needs reform. One of the main reasons for the failure of the Doha Round is the famous WTO "mantra": "As long as there is a consensus, the whole market will be denied." Chen Fengying said that the rules formulated at the beginning of the establishment of the WTO in 1995 now appear It may not be suitable for today's global economic situation, such as the risks brought about by "financial liberalization" and "information liberalization". At a time when multilateral negotiations are difficult to advance, regional trade agreements have sprung up. There is a view that regional trade agreements are not all good, because such agreements tend to be more inclined to use the "cost of the outsider" in exchange for "the benefits of the insiders." In this regard, Chen Fengying believes that in the case of multilateral negotiations, the regional treaty should be a supplement to the world trade consultation mechanism. However, a global multilateral trade negotiation mechanism will remain the ultimate inevitable choice.
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