An Analysis Of The Reasons For The Use Of "Adverse Facts Available" By The United States Against China

In the context of the continuous evolution and escalation of trade frictions between China and the United States,countervailing duty investigation is a trade remedy measure frequently,and the number of countervailing duty investigation against China shows a general trend of fluctuation and increase.The coated paper case launched in November 2006 was the first anti-subsidy investigation launched by the United States against China.Since then,the United States has launched 104 anti-subsidy investigations against China,accounting for 33.3% of the anti-subsidy investigations launched by the United States against various countries around the world.In 85 cases,positive decisions have been made and adverse facts available(AFA)rules are widely applied: in the absence of factual evidence,certain facts are presumed to be most detrimental to the company and country involved.The study found that the wanton use of AFA rules is one of the main reasons leading to China’s high anti-subsidy tax rate,the use of AFA rules of the case final decision tax rate is significantly higher,up to 620.08%,there are serious double counting and excessive relief problems,to China’s export enterprises involved in the heavy economic burden,It also prompted other countries and regions to follow suit.This problem not only hinders the pace of Chinese enterprises "going global",but also is not conducive to the sound development of China-Us economic and trade relations and world free trade.The paper is based on the United States trade commission released 104 cases countervailing ruling memo report case data analysis,combing the laws issued by the World Trade Organization and domestic law in the United States about FA and AFA rules of law origin and connotation,analysis the American countervailing the number and structure of the present situation in China,Based on this,the grounded theory method and NVivo 12 software were used to conduct open coding,spindle coding and selective coding respectively for the anti-subsidy cases initiated by the United States against China from 2006 to 2021,with a total of 360,000 words of coding data.The paper establishes the reason model for the Unit State ’s application of AFA rule Anti-subsidy investigation case against China,which has passed the saturation test.It is found that the industry difference,subsidy project difference,available information quality and the behavior of the respondent are the important factors leading to the application of AFA rules.Specifically,the United States of China anti-subsidy investigation using AFA rules of the case more concentrated in the metal products industry,chemical raw materials and products industry,iron and steel industry;In different subsidy projects,AFA rules are more used in lower than the reasonable return to provide products and services and preferential loan projects;Investigation organs available information integrity,compliance,credibility,can fully explain the problem significantly affects whether AFA rules will be used;Enterprises and the government to cooperate with the investigation of the degree of efforts also directly affect the possibility of AFA rules.In view of the abuse of AFA,suggestions are put forward from three aspects: the government at all levels,the industry and the enterprises involved.