China: star WTO litigator

China racks up another win at the WTO, this one against the European Union. The ruling wasn’t a surprise; the panel deciding the dispute signaled months ago that it was leaning in Beijing’s direction. But the victory continues a good run for China and reinforces the emerging trend of Chinese activism at the Geneva-based organization. As the FT story notes:

China joined the WTO in 2001, and has played an increasingly high-profile role in WTO litigation in the past two years. As a source of low-cost manufacturing for the world, China has a lot to litigate about: during the last decade roughly a quarter of antidumping duties globally have been directed at Chinese exports.

If the momentum toward Russia joining the WTO continues — and all the signs are good — it will be interesting to see how Moscow reacts to the organization’s dispute settlement process. Given that Russia isn’t nearly the exporter that China is, Russia will likely be a defendant much more often than a plaintiff. Foreign companies who want to pry open Russia’s markets are no doubt already sketching out cases that can be brought. Russia’s  first decade in the WTO could be a much less happy experience than China’s.