What is a Safeguard under WTO Law?

Abstract

Despite being in operation for many years, safeguard measures are still shrouded in some amount of confusion and uncertainty. Certain issues that had been lying dormant for a while have now come to the fore, thanks to the tariff war between the United States and China. This article attempts to clarify some of the dense WTO jurisprudence concerning the meaning and legality of safeguard measures, in order to distinguish the two elements as has been suggested by the WTO’s Appellate Body. It finds that while the character and purpose of a measure go to the definition of a safeguard, all other elements concern the legality of the same.