How China’s Employment Problems Became Trade Problems: China, Labour Law and the Rule of Law

In this article, I focus on the potential trade spillovers of Chinese policies to maintain employment. Chinese leaders aredetermined to maintain employment and have long ignored employment laws that could empower workers. But in 2007,China reformed its labor laws and allowed wide public comment. The new laws enhanced protections for workers, butthe consensus among scholars, NGOs, and the US State Department is that these labor laws, like earlier laws, areunevenly and rarely enforced. I argue that Chinese failure to enforce these laws breach its WTO obligations. WTOmembers could use GATT Article XXIII, which establishes a "right of redress" for changes in domestic policy thatsystematically erode market access commitments even if no explicit GATT rule has been violated. Used creatively, thisstrategy could enable WTO member states to encourage China to do a better job of enforcing its labour laws.