Revival of US 301 and China's Management Strategy

Zheng Hang School of Economics Shanghai University Shanghai, China zhenghang1996@126.com Abstract— On March 23, 2018, the United States made a unilateral sanction decision on the basis of the "301 Investigation" launched by the US on China on August 15th last year. China responded positively later, along with the outbreak of the trade war between China and the United States and aroused worldwide concern. First of all, this paper analyzed the development and connotation of "301 clause" and the economic and political reasons hidden behind the "301 survey": the huge trade surplus between China and the United States, as well as the surge of anti-globalization trend. Combining with the banana trade war between the United States and the Europe, we came to the conclusion that the "301 clause" has violated the following three basic principles of WTO, the most-favored-nation treatment principle, tariff protection principle and the principle of fair and just settlement of trade disputes. Although the "301 clause" has caused strong dissatisfaction among many countries, nevertheless, the WTO experts still ruled that "301 clause" does not violate the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Finally, we argue that China should draw up some managements, like strengthening the training of internal talents, deepening the reform in the field of intellectual property rights, taking both internal and external measures together, learning from the experience of other countries, and then responding to unilateral trade protection acts in accordance with international rules. These managements must be useful for Chinese development.