At the end of 2005, the Commerce Department considered the following 12 countries to be NMEs:

The Department considers a country to be a market economy unless and until the Commerce Department has made a formal finding that the criteria for identifying a country as an NME for anti-dumping law purposes have been satisfied. Accordingly, the issue of whether a particular country should be considered an NME for anti-dumping purposes arises cases against countries that have never been attacked by the United States anti-dumping law (such as the 2004 case against Viet Nam) and those cases in which an NME country wants to shed its NME status, which is referred to as 'graduating' from NME status.

The Commerce Department utilizes the same test for both situations. The factors that it considers in determining whether a country should be classified as an NME are:

- The extent to which the currency of the foreign country is convertible into the currency of other countries;

- The extent to which wage rates in the foreign country are determined by free bargaining between labour and management;

- The extent to which joint ventures or other investments by firms of other foreign countries are permitted in the foreign country;

- The extent of government ownership or control of the means of production;

- The extent of government control over the allocation of resources and over companies' prices and output decisions;

- Such other factors that the administering authority considers appropriate.

It is possible for a country that has been classified as an NME by the Commerce Department to seek a change, but the process can be difficult. In theory, the Commerce Department should reclassify an NME country as a market economy if the country demonstrates that its prices are set by market principles under the six considerations above. However, in reality, the Commerce Department's decision to graduate a country to market-economy status is primarily based on political considerations.

Since 1997, the Commerce Department has graduated five countries from NME status: Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Romania and the Russian Federation. The most recent official request for graduation to market-economy status was filed by Ukraine on 2 April 2005.

China is the principal target of United States anti-dumping investigations. With China's recent entry into WTO, and its economy's record growth, one may wonder whether the United States should consider China as a market economy. To date, China has not officially requested that the Commerce Department review its status as an NME. However, on 21 April 2004 the United States—China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade Working Group on Structural Issues (United States—China Joint Commission) agreed to establish a working group to consider issues related to China's desire to become a market economy. On 3 May 2004, the Commerce Department requested public comments on issues that the working group should consider. Specifically, the Commerce Department stated that examples of China's economy that appear to be inconsistent with market-economy principles are (1) its banking sector; (2) its state-owned enterprises; and (3) its central, provincial, and regional governmental policies such as tax incentives and other export promotion instruments. On 3 June 2004, the United States—China Joint Commission held a public hearing on China's desire to become a market economy; the United States Government has taken no further action on this issue since the 2004 public hearing.

Source: Business Guide to Trade Remedies in the United States: Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguards legislation practices and procedures