ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the administration and implementation of the US and Canadian trade law systems with particular emphasis on identifying any discriminatory practices and biases in their implementation against foreign producers. In contrast to the voluntary export restraint agreements, which require an initial direct political impetus to start, the anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws in the US and Canada require that their governments, through their agencies, automatically permit trade actions to be implemented against their foreign competitors. Finding a workable definition of a countervailable subsidy is probably one of the most contentious areas of dispute between Canada and the US, mainly because the nations have different economic and cultural traditions. Canadian-based firms may face a stricter standard for material injury at the tribunal stage than their US counterparts. In assessing the requisite causal link between the dumped or subsidized imports and material injury the, Canadian International Trade Tribunal has set a particularly onerous standard for domestic producers to overcome.
