Antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) are the two principal "trade remedy" measures permitted under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and administered through the World Trade Organization. An antidumping duty counters dumping — the export of a product at a price below its "normal value" (the home-market price or constructed cost), governed by GATT Article VI and the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI (the Anti-Dumping Agreement, 1994). A countervailing duty counters injurious subsidisation by an exporting government, governed by Article VI and the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement). In both cases the importing country may impose a duty only after demonstrating three elements: the practice (dumping margin or actionable subsidy), material injury (or threat thereof) to the domestic industry, and a causal link between the two. The duty is capped at the margin of dumping or the amount of the subsidy.
In the United States, the FSOT-relevant jurisdiction, investigations are bifurcated. The U.S. Department of Commerce (International Trade Administration) determines whether dumping or subsidisation occurred and calculates the margin; the independent U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) makes the injury determination. Both affirmative findings are required before Customs and Border Protection collects duties. The governing statute is the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (notably by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994 and the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015). Orders are subject to periodic administrative reviews and mandatory sunset reviews every five years. India operates a parallel system under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, with the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) investigating and the Finance Ministry imposing duties.
Both remedies are heavily litigated. WTO disputes such as US — Hot-Rolled Steel (2001), US — Softwood Lumber (Canada), and the long-running US — Zeroing cases (challenging Commerce's "zeroing" methodology of disregarding negative margins) have repeatedly tested compliance. AD/CVD measures surged during the 2018–2020 US–China tariff confrontation and remain prominent in steel, aluminium, solar panels, and chemicals trade. As of 2026 the paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body — defunct since December 2019 owing to US blocking of appointments — has weakened multilateral discipline over these duties, leaving many appeals "into the void" and increasing reliance on the interim Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arrangement (MPIA), which the US has not joined.
For exam purposes, AD/CVD distinctions appear in FSOT economics and US foreign-policy sections and in UPSC/CSS international-trade and economy papers. The classic question angle asks candidates to distinguish antidumping (private firm pricing) from countervailing (government subsidy) and to identify the dual-agency US process (Commerce + USITC) versus the single-window structures elsewhere. Examiners also probe the three legal prerequisites, the role of GATT Article VI, the difference between these remedies and safeguard measures (GATT Article XIX, which require no unfair practice), and the current crisis of WTO dispute settlement.
Example
In 2018 the U.S. Department of Commerce and USITC imposed antidumping and countervailing duties exceeding 200% on Chinese imported aluminium foil, finding both below-fair-value pricing and actionable government subsidies injuring domestic producers.
Frequently asked questions
Antidumping duties counter private exporters selling below normal value (dumping), while countervailing duties counter goods benefiting from a foreign government subsidy. The former targets firm pricing behaviour; the latter targets state action.