年美國成全球反傾銷訴訟最大發起國

The US has overtaken India as the leading user of anti-dumping and other trade defence cases, with China and its steel sector the biggest target, according to research.

研究顯示，美國已經取代印度成爲反傾銷和其他貿易保護案件的最大發起國，而中國及其鋼鐵行業正是美國的最大目標。

The data highlight the growing anxieties in some sectors of industry about what they see as unfair competition from Chinese rivals.

該數據突顯出，某些工業部門對他們認爲來自中國對手的不公平競爭感到日益擔憂。

The research comes at a time of increasing anti-China rhetoric in US politics, and ahead of three politically sensitive anti-dumping cases this summer against Chinese steel imports that could result in the US imposing punitive duties of as much as 500 per cent.

該研究的公佈正值美國政界反中國言論日益增加之際，此外，今年夏天3起針對從中國進口的鋼鐵產品的政治敏感反傾銷案件即將作出裁決，可能導致美方對中國企業施加高達500%的懲罰性關稅。

But the developments also point to the vast gap in the use of such cases between the US and EU, where a debate is under way over whether to grant China “market economy” status in the World Trade Organisation, a concession that would make it even harder to bring anti-dumping cases.

但是，這些進展也指向美國和歐盟在利用此類案件上的巨大差異，歐盟目前正在討論是否要賦予中國世界貿易組織(WTO)框架下的“市場經濟”地位——這一讓步會使對中國提起反傾銷案變難。

According to the annual Global Trade Protection Report, companies in the US launched 43 anti-dumping cases in 2015 and a further 22 anti-subsidy investigations aimed at securing countervailing duties. The US took the lead in both areas, overtaking India and Brazil, which launched the most cases in 2014 and 2013.

一年一度的《全球貿易保護報告》(Global Trade Protection Report)顯示，2015年美國企業發起了43起反傾銷案件，以及另外22起旨在徵收反補貼稅的反補貼調查。美國在這兩方面均處於領先位置，超越了分別在2014年和2013年發起最多案件的印度和巴西。

The EU filed just 12 anti-dumping cases in 2015, two less than the year before.

2015年，歐盟僅提起了12起反傾銷案，較前一年減少了2起。

Cliff Stevenson, an anti-dumping expert who publishes the report based on data filed with the WTO, said the surge in US cases was driven largely by the steel industry. The increase also represented the range of countries from China to Australia, the UK and the Netherlands against which US companies were willing to file anti-dumping complaints.

根據WTO的數據撰寫該報告的反傾銷專家克利夫•斯蒂文森(Cliff Stevenson)稱，美國反傾銷案件激增主要是因爲鋼鐵行業。這一增長也表明，美國企業熱衷提起反傾銷訴訟的對象從中國一直延伸到澳大利亞、英國和荷蘭等國。

Metals cases made up a record 46 per cent of the 233 anti-dumping actions brought worldwide in 2015, with the steel industry accounting for almost all of the metals complaints.

2015年，全球範圍發起的233起反傾銷案件中，針對金屬行業的案件佔比達創紀錄的46%，幾乎全部是針對鋼鐵行業的案件。

Anti-dumping cases were much easier to bring in the US than in the EU where companies first had to pass a public interest test.

在美國發起反傾銷案件比在歐盟容易得多。在歐盟，企業必須先通過公衆利益測試。

But Mr Stevenson said “this might reflect that the US is being bolder than the EU in protecting domestic steel producers”.

但是，斯蒂文森稱“這或許反映出美國在保護本國鋼鐵製造商方面比歐盟更大膽”。

The US and European steel industries have accused China’s heavily subsidised sector of flooding the global market with steel, “dumping” it by selling below production costs and driving down international prices. The collapse in steel prices in recent years has caused the closure of mills across the world from Australia to the UK and parts of the US industrial heartland.

美國和歐洲鋼鐵行業指責中國受到高額補貼的鋼鐵部門向全球市場大量輸出鋼鐵，以低於生產成本的價格“傾銷”，拉低了國際價格。近年來鋼鐵價格暴跌已經造成從澳大利亞到英國、乃至美國部分工業中心的全球範圍的工廠大量倒閉。

China denies any wrongdoing and says it is working to tackle problems of industrial overcapacity that have become more acute as its economy has slowed.

中國拒絕承認存在任何不當行爲，並表示正在努力解決工業產能過剩的問題。隨着中國經濟增長放緩，該問題變得日益尖銳。

The issue has also hit Beijing’s efforts to secure market economy status in the WTO, which it claims it will be entitled to automatically on December’s 15th anniversary of it joining. If China obtains that status it could affect the ability of the US and others to bring anti-dumping cases, as it would remove their ability to use prices in third countries for comparison.

這一問題也打擊了中國在WTO框架內獲得市場經濟地位的努力。中國聲稱，在其加入WTO滿15週年的今年12月，應當自動獲得市場經濟地位。如果中國獲得了該地位，那麼這可能影響美國等國對中國發起反傾銷案的能力，因爲這將使他們不能用替代國的價格進行比價。

According to the new report, over the past 20 years India has been the leading user of anti-dumping cases, filing 767, or 15 per cent, of the 4,990 initiated between 1995 and 2015. The US accounted for 570 while the EU registered 480.

根據這份新報告，在過去20年裏，印度是發起反傾銷案最多的國家，在1995年至2015年間發起的4990件反傾銷案中，印度發起了767件，佔比爲15%。同期，美國發起了570件，歐盟發起了480件。