East Asia's anti-dumping problem

East Asia accounts for a large and growing share of worldwide anti-dumping (AD) activity. East Asian countries have long been the main targets of AD actions, accounting for about one-third of all AD actions during the 1980s, more than 40 per cent of all AD actions during the 1990s, and almost 50 per cent of all AD actions in recent years. After controlling for factors that might influence filings such as the exchange rate and trade volume, it is found that East Asian countries are subject to about twice as many cases as either North American or Western European countries. Moreover, the trend in filings against East Asian countries is increasing, meaning that in recent years the propensity for countries to direct their AD filings against East Asian countries is growing. One concern is that the growing intensity of AD use against East Asia is driven by China-PRC. Importantly, but a rising propensity is found even excluding China-PRC. © 2006 The Authors Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.