The WTO role in settling the US-China trade disputes (2017-2021)

The goal of this thesis is to analyse what role did the WTO play in resolving trade disputes in the US-China trade war during Donald Trump's administration. To answer this question, this thesis first introduces the background of the WTO and the US-China trade war. Then, by analysing the conduct of the US-China trade war during the Trump administration and the course of negotiations during this period, this thesis finds that although there have been efforts by the US and China to resolve their disputes through cooperative manner, they still failed to prevent the continuation of the trade war. As for the role of WTO law, the unilateral retaliatory and counter-retaliatory measures of both China and the United States are not in compliance with WTO rules protecting the multilateral trading system, which confirmed their neglect of WTO regulations. Even if the WTO rules played a key role in the panel stage, the WTO's adjudicative function was undermined by the paralysis of the Appellate Body, where the panel report had no legal effect after one side had filed an appeal. Accordingly, this thesis concludes that the WTO's role as a boundary, a balancer and an adjudicator during the US-China trade war is very small.