The effects of NAFTA on antidumping and countervailing duty activity

Treatment of unfair trade laws has become an important topic in negotiations on preferential trading areas. Recent preferential trading areas involving the United States, one of the most significant users of these laws, have established special binational dispute settlement panels to arbitrate disagreements. Using a panel database of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty activity from 1980 through 2000, the article examines whether the use of dispute settlement panels has reduced such activity between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners. The analysis finds little evidence for any effect, calling into question the effectiveness of dispute settlement panels in reducing unfair trade law activity.