The article discusses natural resource underpricing in multilateral subsidy rules’
negotiations. It starts from the U.S. experiences to consider foreign natural resource
underpricing practices under its underdeveloped subsidy rules. The United States
then brought its domestic concern to the Uruguay Round establishing the World Trade
Organization; however, conflicts had been shown between the industrialist countries and
the resource-endowed ones regarding the ways of using natural resources as a comparative
advantage. At this corner of trade rulemaking, the North’s pro-market demand was likely
to collide with the South’s natural resource sovereignty. Natural resource underpricing
has again taken the stage in the ongoing Doha Development Round for renegotiation
of the WTO Subsidies Agreement; nevertheless, it seems to partly place this multilateral
trade rulemaking under a stalemate. The crux of the subsidy debates on natural resources
is how to deal with the government’s market predominance concern as to reflect the
government’s roles in the natural resource sector. The European Union’s pressure on the
WTO accession of several resource-endowed countries has been quite effective since the
latter chose to surrender part of their natural resource sovereignty as a price of economic
integration. However, the EU present anti-dumping practice against the natural resource
underpricing problem seems to add fuel to the dilemma since its trade law consistency is
under challenge.