According to available data on the WTO website, as of December 31, 2021, a total of 7,548 trade remedy measures were initiated by member countries, including: 6,489 anti-dumping investigations, 651 anti-subsidy investigations and 408 safeguard investigations. There were 4,941 trade remedy measures imposed, including: 4,350 anti-dumping measures, 385 anti-subsidy measures and 206 safeguard measures.

 

Figure 1: Distributive share of trade remedy mesures (1995-2021)

Source: WTO data

 

It is clear that anti-dumping measures are the most popular and preferred trade remedy measure by most countries in the world, accounting for 86% of all initiated trade remedy measures, followed by countervailing investigation with 8.6% and safeguard investigation with 5.4%. In addition, the anti-dumping investigation also had the highest rate of tariff imposition with 67%, compared to anti-subsidy investigation (59.1%) and safeguard investigation (50.5%). The higher usage of anti-dumping measures can be traced back to the fact that anti-dumping measures are relatively simple compared to Anti-subsidy and Safeguard measures.

 

Global trends in Anti-dumping investigations

 

Countries using anti-dumping measures

 

According to WTO statistics by the end of 2021, India continues to be the country using the most anti-dumping measures with a total of 1,100 AD initiations and 767 ADD impositions, while only 13 anti-subsidy measures and 22 Safeguard measures were imposed at the same period.

 

 Table 1 : Top countries using anti-dumping measures in the last 5 years (initiations) 

	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Total number of investigations initiated in the period 1995-2021	Percentage (%)
India	49	32	59	92	29	1100	17%
USA	55	34	33	89	24	841	13.0%
EU	9	8	11	12	11	544	8.4%
Brazil	7	7	1	9	11	438	6.7%
Argentina	8	19	17	6	15	409	6.3%
Australia	16	12	7	18	6	375	5.8%
China	24	16	14	4		292	4.5%
Canada	14	14	6	24	6	277	4.3%
Other countries	67	60	67	101	80	2213	34.1%
Total	249	202	215	355	182	6489	100%

Source: WTO data

 

In 2021, the number of anti-dumping investigations initiated by India decreased significantly compared to 2020 (only 29 anti-dumping investigations in 2021 compared to 92 cases in 2020). Investigations initiated by the US also tended to decrease in 2021 with 24 investigations compared to 89 cases in 2020. Meanwhile, there was a sudden increase in the number of anti-dumping investigations in Argentina. Argentina initiated a total of 15 investigations in 2021, more than double from 6 cases in 2020.

 

Figure 2: Trends of initiation of anti-dumping investigations of some economies in the last 5 years

Source: WTO Data

 

Target countries of anti-dumping measures

 

According to WTO statistics, China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, the United States, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Malaysia, Brazil, and the EU were the countries/territories that have been investigated and imposed most anti-dumping measures in the world. In details, China was at the top with a total of 1,526 AD initiations and 1,135 ADD impositions, followed by South Korea (483 AD initiations, 315 ADD impositions), Taipei (333 AD initiations and 225 ADD impositions).

 

Figure 3: Major target countries of AD investigations (1995-2021)

Source: WTO data

 

Sectors subject to anti-dumping measures

 

There are many sectors subject to anti-dumping measures by WTO members. In particular, base metals and articles are the group subject to anti-dumping duty the most, accounting for 33% of the total cases globally, followed by Chemical and Allied Industries(21%) and plastics and rubber (12%). In other words, products for industrial use seem to be the main subjects of trade remedies.

 

Figure 4: Sectors subject to anti-dumping duty globally (1995-2021)

Source: WTO data

 

Source: Center for WTO and International Trade