Countervailing Duty

Customs

Additional import duty to offset subsidies provided by the exporting country's government.

Sources

1. World Trade Organization — Subsidies and countervailing measures wto.org accessed 23 September 2026

The WTO describes the mechanism rather than the duty, which is the more useful way round. The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures “disciplines the use of subsidies, and it regulates the actions WTO members can take to counter the effects of subsidies”. A member facing a subsidised import has two distinct routes, and they lead to different places. It “can use the WTO’s dispute-settlement procedure to seek the withdrawal of the subsidy or the removal of its adverse effects” — a claim against the subsidising government. Or it “can launch its own investigation and ultimately charge extra duty (‘countervailing duty’) on subsidized imports that are found to be hurting domestic producers” — a domestic measure against the goods. The second requires an injury finding at home, not a ruling in Geneva.

A topic page, not the treaty. The WTO’s topic pages are the organisation’s own plain-language account of what its agreements do, so they are authoritative for the shape of the regime. They are not the operative text. Where an obligation or a remedy is at stake, the agreement itself governs, and that is what a panel would read.

Related terms

• Advance Authorisation
• Anti-Dumping Duty
• ATA Carnet
• Authorised Economic Operator
• Bill of Entry
• Binding Tariff Information

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).