美国对华产品反补贴调查外部基准适用问题述评

A Review on the Benchmark Application Issue in US Countervailing Investigations on Chinese Products

在对华产品反补贴调查中,美国对中国国有企业提供的原材料、国有商业银行贷款等补贴项目等适用长期以来采取的外部基准做法,以政府干预扭曲市场为由拒绝使用中国的国内价格来计算补贴利益,人为抬高了补贴税率。WTO上诉机构的裁决肯定了外部基准适用的合法性,并加以一定的条件限制,但这些限制条件需根据个案具体情况进行分析。这种个案抗争给中国的应对工作带来较大的压力和挑战。中国应该主动利用WTO改革的时机,澄清ASCM第14条的使用条件和前提限制,规范各国反补贴当局的行为,减少随意性,同时在国内加快进行以完善产权制度和要素市场化配置为重点的经济体制改革,力争从根本上系统地解决问题。

In the countervailing investigation against Chinese products, the United States applied long-term external benchmark practices on subsidies such as raw materials provided by Chinese state-owned enterprises and state-owned commercial bank loans, refused to use China’s domestic prices on the grounds of Chinese government intervention to distort the market. Subsidy benefits have artificially raised. The rulings of the WTO Appellate Body in relevant cases affirmed the legitimacy of the application of external benchmarks and imposed certain conditions, but these restrictions need to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis according to the specific circumstances. This kind of case by case struggle has brought greater pressure and challenges to China’s response work. China should take the advantage of the WTO reforms, clarify the conditions and preconditions of Article 14 of the ASCM, regulate the behavior of the countervailing authorities of various countries, reduce the arbitrariness, and at the same time accelerate the domestic implementation of the property rights system reform and the market-oriented allocation of factors, striving to solve problems fundamentally and systematically.