On May 23, 2014, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that China’s imposed antidumping and countervailing duties on U.S. vehicles, lifted in December, 2013, were not justified, and injury to China’s domestic market could not be proven. The WTO announced this decision after a yearlong review of legal mandates from both countries.

According to a release by the New York Times, “The W.T.O. panel found that in imposing penalties on imported large-engine vehicles, China had failed to prove first that the imports were causing any injury to its domestic industry. International free-trade rules require a so-called injury determination to prevent countries from imposing tariffs to forestall imports from entering at all, instead of waiting to see if they actually cause a problem.”

China’s punitive duties affected approximately $5 billion in automobile exports.

The dispute analysis can be accessed here

The New York Times release can be viewed here