On The Law Applicable To Raw Material Export Restrictions Under The WTO Framework And Rare Earth

In the year2009, USA, the European Union as well as Mexico sued China for therestrictions China imposed on the exportation of flour, coke and bauxite. The measures indispute include export duty, export quota, export license and minimum export pricesrequirements. Meanwhile, the applicants also sued China for the way it uses theexport-related measures. The panel report of this case was published on July,2011, whichsupported most of the applicants’ claims, and China lost the lawsuit in this regard. In theyear2012, USA together with the EU and Japan sued China for the restrictions Chinaimposed on the exportation of rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. The applicant’sclaims in the latter case was almost the same with the claims in the case of raw materials,which is mainly regarding export duty, export quota as well as the way China operatesthese measures. This paper analyzes the panel report of the first case, based on whichconcludes that the prospective of the latter case is not optimistic for China. The writerholds the view that China should on the one hand take a great effort in avoiding theappearance of lawsuit alike through the improvement of legislation, and on the other handnot give up the latter lawsuit to buy time for the adjustment of industrial structure of China,and to achieve environmental protection and sustainable development.