Granting Market Economy Status to China puts 202,000 EU jobs at risk
When China joined the WTO in December 2001, a transitional arrangement for its accession allowed for it to be treated as a non-market economy (NME) in anti-dumping proceedings. China’s current NME status allows the possibility to use prices of a comparable surrogate country (the so-called ‘analogue methodology’) rather than domestic prices (which are often artificially low due to state intervention) in order to calculate the dumping margin. The use of NME methodology is outlined in the terms of the Chinese WTO Accession Protocol but some of the provisions are due to expire on 11th December 2016 (after 15 years).
For China, there is no doubt but that it will automatically become a market economy as of 12th December 2016. It is even already threatening with retaliation and legal challenges. According to research carried out by the Catholic University of Leuven, the granting of Market Economy Status to China could put 202,000 jobs at risk in the EU.