Welfare costs of the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws

The antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) laws in the United States have become the most pervasive form of import relief sought by domestic producers. This paper estimates the collective economic effect of the hundreds of active U.S. AD/CVD orders. Using a computable general equilibrium model, we estimate that the collective net economic welfare cost in 1993 of these orders to be $4 billion. This welfare estimate is sensitive to various modeling assumptions, which are explored in the paper. With the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements, the AD/CVD laws remain one of the costliest programs restraining U.S. trade.