The Analysis On "Section 301" Of American Trade Law

Based on “Tariff Act of 1930”, the U.S. modern trade act has shifted to multilateral opening through “Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934”. The equal undertaking of opening obligation is proposed by “The Trade Expansion Act of 1962”. The fairness of free trade is stressed more and more explicitly by “Trade Reform Act of 1974”,“Trade and Tariff Act of 1984”and “Omnibus Trade and Competition Act of 1988”. “Section 301”is exactly a retaliatory clause among these trade acts which is implemented to guarantee fair trade. It reflects the stage-based adjustment of the U.S. government trade policy from the independent market opening obligation undertaking in the initial period, to the asking for gradual equal undertaking of the market opening obligation by trade partners, so as to promote and maintain the global free trade. The paper attempts to start from the background of the “Section 301”development every time to explore its content changes and give a rough analysis of the clause by integrating its implementation results.