One of the overwhelming issues in the global economy has been China-US trade war. The edited book by Rahul Nath comprises of chapters on different dimensions of the trade war. AS the crisis emerged between two economic powers of East (China) and West (US), it had substantial consequences on South Asian economies. The chapters identify key challenges as the outcome of China-US trade war. While building on the consequences of the conflict, the book traces on the impact on trade barriers, both tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. The empirical evidences examined identify the spill over effects on the South Asian economy. Amid China-US trade war, the litmus test has been for the WTO as there has been rise in preferential trade agreements. The authors have examined these issues in detail.

The sudden escalation of the US-China trade war has negatively impacted global trade and the WTO, and its effects will last for a long time. This article centres on the US anti-dumping measures against Chinese exports within the trade war. The article attempts to explain the failure of the US trade policies in terms of anti-dumping measures; policies which were found to be inconsistent with the Anti-Dumping Agreement (ADA). Rather than complying with the Appellate Body Reports, the US insisted on using procedures inconsistent with the ADA, such as the zeroing methodology to overprotect the US industries. The US even blocked the appointment of Appellate Body Members and paralysed the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism. Apart from political and economic reasons, one of the underlying reasons for the US to trigger a trade war with China would be anti-dumping measures. Antidumping measures are designed to balance unfair pricing strategies; however, the US is misusing the measures in order to avoid a trade deficit with China.

On January 28, 2019, the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Huawei. A pair of indictments accusing Huawei of violating the US sanctions as well as stealing trade secrets was unsealed in two separate cases. In fact, as a technology-intensive enterprise, Huawei has always been under close scrutiny from the US government for ‘national security’ concerns, and both the criminal allegations have existed for years. The Chinese side questioned the American motives, accusing that the US is actually using law enforcement as one tool among many to achieve its policy objectives in the Huawei case. The article presents the Chinese side of the case as well as the grounds for its position.

The trade war between the US and China in the Trump era has become a momentous event in the world economy. It is necessary to see how trade relations between them have played out within the WTO from a historical perspective. Since the Opium Wars, both economic and political concerns have changed the relationship between these two countries. The escalation from a trade conflict to trade war shows the rivalry between the US and China for hegemony in the twenty-first century’s regional and world politics. The economic, technological, and manufacturing competition that is a part of hegemonic rivalry is not totally new; this is borne out by the history of the US-China economic relations. The escalation of this ‘trade war’ now has spill-over effects on other countries, being beyond the normative framework of the WTO. There is an impasse in this ongoing saga, but the silver lining is that there will be a re-construction of the multilateral trading system.