ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the European Union's (EU) trade dispute management strategy with regards to disciplines on export restrictions by looking at the negotiation/litigation interaction. The instance of export restrictions in international relations is also related to the emergence of a new trading power, Japan, in the 1970s and 1980s. However, at that time, export restrictions took the form of voluntary export restraints (VERs), known as grey-area measures, and focused on the protection of domestic industry against trade diversion effects arising from enforcement of such VERs. The heavy reliance of the United States and Japan on VERs to resolve trade frictions, which adversely impacted the EU, brought VERs to the table during the great bargain of the Uruguay Round negotiations. Domestically, the EU relies heavily on the importation of natural resources which are sometimes reserved in some countries not operating in line with the rationale of market economy.
