Department of Commerce Administration of Antidumping Sunset Reviews: A First Assessment

The US agreed at the end of the Uruguay Round to reform its antidumping procedures by instituting a five-year sunset review. Under this commitment, the US agreed to terminate antidumping duties unless administrators found that dumping and material injury would likely recur if the order were revoked. This paper makes clear that the Department of Commerce's sunset review decisions on dumping demonstrate a mechanistic approach that calls into question whether the US has lived up to the spirit of its commitments under the Uruguay Round reforms.