Compliance Of U.S. Soybean Subsidies With WTO Rules And China's Coping Strategies

Taking into account the special nature of agricultural production, countries implement agricultural subsidies in different degree to stabilize production, protect farmers'income and enhance competitiveness of agriculture. These subsidies may distort trade and adversely affect other countries in case of improper use. As China's domestic market demand for more edible oil and soybean meal rapidly, China has become the world's largest soybean importer, in which the United States is China's largest source of imports of soybean. In this paper, the U.S. soybean subsidies, as the research object, the author analyzes the compliance of U.S. soybean subsidies with the WTO rules, i.e. the"Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures", and the impact of a large number of imported American soybeans to China's soybean industry.This paper is divided into three parts. The first chapter details various projects of U.S. subsidies to soybean production and export, and based on publicly available information to estimate the amount of U.S. soybean subsidies. Chapter II uses the binding articles of "Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures" to analyze the compliance of U.S. soybean subsidies with WTO rules in terms of granting authority, financial contribution, benefit conferred, specificity, etc. Chapter III studies the impact of U.S. soybean subsidies to China's soybean industry, and recommend unilateral and multilateral legal measures as China's optional coping strategies.