Recently Acceded Members of the World Trade Organization: Membership, the Doha Development Agenda, and Dispute Settlement

365 Pages·2019·4.188 MB·English

by  Kenji Takamiya

Recently Acceded
Members of the World
Trade Organization
Membership, the Doha
Development Agenda,
and Dispute Settlement
Kenji Takamiya
Recently Acceded Members of the World Trade
Organization
Kenji Takamiya
Recently Acceded
Members of the World
Trade Organization
Membership, the Doha Development Agenda,
and Dispute Settlement
Kenji Takamiya
Manila, Philippines
ISBN 978-981-13-9158-3 ISBN 978-981-13-9159-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9159-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore
189721, Singapore
P
reface
Developing and transition economies that acceded to the multilateral
trading system since the establishment of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) in 1995 had made extensive market access commitments in the
course of membership negotiations. After joining the multilateral trad-
ing system, however, these recently acceded members (RAMs) gener-
ally expressed reservations against further market opening in the Doha
Round launched in 2001, also known as the Doha Development Agenda
(DDA). At the same time, a number of RAMs have been aggressively
using the dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) at the WTO, partly to
address issues related to their terms of accession. Using the economy
theories of trade agreements and negotiations as a guide for intellectual
inquiries, this book assesses motivations accounting for the RAM’s evolv-
ing behaviors in the multilateral trading system.
The volume was substantially written when I was at the University of
Cambridge in 2012–2015. I would like to express my sincere gratitude
to Professor Amrita Narlikar, presently President of the GIGA German
Institute of Global and Area Studies. I could not compete the research
without her constant encouragement, in addition to valuable technical
advice while she was still in Cambridge and thereafter. I am also grateful
to Dr. Pieter van Houten, Dr. Kun-Chin Lin, and Professor Richard Rex,
all from the University of Cambridge. I would also like to acknowledge
funding provided by the Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust and
the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Programme, among
others.
v
vi PREfACE
The research entailed overseas travels to five countries (Ecuador,
Georgia, People’s Republic of China, Switzerland, and Viet Nam), and
I am grateful to officials of the government agencies and business associ-
ations, as well as colleagues of international organizations and academia
for welcoming me for necessary interviews. While their valuable contri-
butions are kept anonymous in the text of the book, all of them very
pleasantly spent their precious time to talk with me, despite their busy
schedules. Special thanks also go to Jacob Dreyer, Commissioning Editor
and Anushangi Weerakoon, Editorial Assistant of Palgrave Macmillan.
The views expressed and the conclusions reached are those of mine in
my personal capacity, and these do not reflect views of my employer and
scholarship sponsors, their policies and activities, or any national political
questions.
Manila, Philippines Kenji Takamiya
c
ontents
1 Background and Theoretical Framework 1
1 Background 1
2 Research Question and Relevance 6
2.1 Research Question 6
2.2 Specific Areas of Research 7
2.2.1 Market Access Negotiations 7
2.2.2 Countering Long-Standing Discrimination 10
2.3 Relevance of the Research 12
3 Argument, Theories, and Hypotheses 14
3.1 Main Argument 14
3.2 Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Multilateral
Trade Liberalization 14
3.2.1 General Thrust of Trade Theories 14
3.2.2 Market Access Liberalization for
Merchandize Trade 15
3.2.2.1 Case for Unilateral Policy
Commitment 15
3.2.2.2 Case for Trade Reciprocity 17
3.2.3 Recovering Cost of Prior Non-membership 21
3.3 Supplementary Explanation and Other Theories 23
4 Methodology and Case Selection 24
4.1 Research Methodology 24
4.2 Selected Case Countries 27
vii
viii CONTENTS
5 Literature Survey 30
6 Structure of the Book 33
7 Conclusion 34
References 34
2 The RAMs’ Accession and Post-membership Activities:
An Overview 45
1 Introduction 45
2 WTO Accession at a Glance 46
2.1 Practice of the WTO Membership Process 46
2.2 Open-Ended Rule on Terms of Accession 48
2.3 Mostly One-Sided Negotiations for Applicant’s
Commitments 54
3 The RAMs’ Post-accession Performance 59
3.1 Reciprocity in the Doha Development Agenda 59
3.2 Emergence of the RAMs Group at Market Access
Negotiations 61
3.3 Redressing WTO-Minus Trade Remedies
and Other Discrimination 69
4 Preliminary Examination of the RAMs’ Policy Positions 72
4.1 Accession as a Commitment Device to Support
Domestic Reforms 72
4.2 Export Orientation, Size of Economies,
and Reciprocity 78
4.3 Recovering the Cost of the Outsider Status 83
5 Conclusion 85
References 86
3 Georgia 93
1 Introduction 93
2 Post-Soviet Transition, WTO Accession, Toward the Doha
Round 96
2.1 From the Crisis to International Economic
Integration 96
2.1.1 Post-Soviet Transition and Stabilization 96
2.2 WTO Accession: Tying Hands to Consolidate
Domestic Reforms 99
2.3 Setback at the Post-accession Reforms and Early
Days of the Doha Round 106
CONTENTS ix
2.3.1 Restrictive Measures of 2002 106
2.4 Doha Round Negotiations as a Recently Acceded
Member 109
3 Rose Revolution and Departure from the WTO Track 114
3.1 Resurgence of Domestic Reforms After the Rose
Revolution 114
3.2 Disengagement from the DDA Negotiations
as a Low-Income Economy in Transition 118
3.3 Toward Free Trade: Going Alone Further
with Autonomous Liberalization 121
3.4 Draft 2008 Modalities of the Doha Development
Agenda 122
4 Further Theoretical Considerations 126
4.1 Domestic Contexts 126
4.2 Absence of Substantive Discrimination 129
5 Conclusion 131
References 132
4 People’s Republic of China 137
1 Introduction 137
2 Pushing Domestic Reforms Through WTO Accession 139
3 Pursuit of Export Interests in the Doha Development
Agenda 145
3.1 Export Orientation and Engagement in Market
Access Negotiations 146
3.2 Still Falling Short of Prominent Leadership 153
3.2.1 “Partial Stakeholder” at the WTO 153
3.2.2 Qualifiers on Pursuit of Post-accession
Multilateral Liberalization 154
4 Potential Relevance of Terms of Trade for a Large
Economy 160
5 Long-Standing Pursuit of Non-discrimination 163
5.1 Unconditional MFN Treatment 163
5.2 Textile Quotas and Special Safeguard 169
5.3 Non-market Economy Status in Anti-dumping 172
5.4 Transitional Product-Specific Safeguard 179
6 Conclusion 182
References 184
x CONTENTS
5 Viet Nam 193
1 Introduction 193
2 WTO Accession Under Cautious Gradualism of Doi Moi 195
3 Doha Round Negotiations Under Macroeconomic
Instability 200
3.1 Side-Lined from the Post-accession Market Access
Negotiations 200
3.2 Irrelevance of Term of Trade Externality
for a Medium-Sized Economy 206
4 Recovering the Cost of Previous Outsider Status 208
4.1 Restoring MFN Access in the Textile and Clothing
Sector 208
4.1.1 Domino in Motion—Acceleration of
Accession Negotiations Since 2001 208
4.1.2 The US Import Monitoring Program
for Textiles and Apparel 216
4.2 Anti-dumping Disputes as an NME in the Fishery
Sector 219
4.2.1 Pre-accession Dispute on United
States—Catfish 219
4.2.2 Post-accession Disputes on United
States—Shrimp 223
5 Conclusion 228
References 231
6 Ecuador 237
1 Introduction 237
2 WTO Accession Commitment and Implementation 239
2.1 Tariff Binding Detached from Domestic Reforms 239
2.2 Modest Implementation Record of Accession
Commitment 243
3 Banana Disputes 251
3.1 Toward the Doha Ministerial Conference 251
3.2 Toward Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas 260
4 Proactive Engagement in the Doha Development Agenda 262
4.1 Agriculture Negotiations as Extension of Banana
Disputes 262