Dear WSJ: Dumping Is Not Harmful
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
To the Editor:
Amedeo Teti says that "Dumping and some state subsidies are unfair competition practices that create distortions of international competition and, in the long run, result in the establishment of dominant positions by some companies at the expense of global competition. That is why antidumping remedies have nothing to do with protectionism" (Letters, April 1).
Wrong.
First, I challenge Sig. Teti to name even a single instance – one recognized widely by scholars – in which dumping or export subsidies practiced in one country resulted in harm to consumers in other countries. Second, even if (contrary to fact) he's able to name a thousand such instances, it's foolish to suppose that, just because antidumping remedies might be useful against some harmful acts, these remedies won't be misused by protectionists masquerading as champions of economic efficiency.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Don Boudreaux is the Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a Business & Media Institute adviser.
