Global trading regimes are currently undergoing significant changes. It is most vividly shown in the recent spread of FTAs and the surge of protectionism. These fast changes pose new challenges to many countries in terms of formulating and implementing their respective trade policies. The increasing confrontation between the United States and China in trade sectors now operates as a multiplier and accelerator of this fast-changing global trade landscape. Recent disputes between the two have underscored fundamental differences in understandings of the legal framework of the WTO Agreements and the nature of the obligations as Members, thereby further raising questions about the reinvigoration of multilateralism. The two countries’ retaliatory initiation of trade disputes against each other also involves third countries because of legal requirements and other considerations. The Sino-US trade disputes are thus not merely confrontation between the two largest trading partners; instead they carry wider systemic implications for both other countries and global trading regimes in transition.

Bracing for the Hidden Fallout
  Ⅰ. Introduction 
  Ⅱ. A Shifting Paradigm in Global Trading Regime
  Ⅲ. The Sino-US Trade Disputes on the Rise
  Ⅳ. Hidden Implications of the Sino-US Disputes for Third Countries
  Ⅴ. Turning the Challenges into a New Opportunity
  Ⅵ. Conclusion: For Constructive Management of the Sino-US Trade Disputes

• Jaemin Lee(Law at Hanyang University School of Law, Korea)