Four case studies of agri-food CVDs and a proposal for reforming national administered protection agencies

This paper reviews the role of national administered protection agencies, whose primary responsibility is the enforcement of national trade remedy laws. After reviewing four recent cases of trade disputes between Canada and the United States, it is argued that the role of national administered protection agencies should be changed. The growth of regional trading blocks, the increasing use of anti-dumping and countervailing duty actions against fairly traded imports and the additional responsibilities assumed by the WTO in administering the Agreement on Agriculture strongly suggest that all trade disputes should be taken to the WTO for settlement. The role of national administered protection agencies should be changed to make them agents for trade liberalization. This would involve these agencies taking on three primary functions: (i) as transparency agents; (ii) as investigatory agents; and (iii) as advocacy agents.