ANALISIS YURIDIS TINDAKAN SEPIHAK PENGUBAHAN THRESHOLD DEVELOPMENT TAXONOMY NEGARA BERKEMBANG ANGGOTA WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION OLEH UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Abstract

In its efforts to protect the national economy the power of a country is not unlimited. The state, as the holder of sovereignty, must comply with the provisions of international law. As a WTO member who also ratified the GATT, Enabling Clause, Marrakesh Agreement, and Doha Declaration, United States of America should have complied with, and implemented with full commitment, all the provisions governed in these agreements. On the basis of the order issued by President Donald Trump through a memo dated July 26, 2019, on February 10, 2020 USTR announced a new development taxonomy threshold that caused Indonesia and 22 other WTO member countries with Gross National Income per capita less than US $ 12,375.-, the threshold of the World Bank's high-income countries, to involuntarily lose their status as developing countries, which resulted in these countries being deprived access to WTO’s special and differential treatment provisions. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a juridical analysis on the unilateral action taken by USTR to alter the development taxonomy threshold of WTO’s developing country members examined from the concept of "graduation" and the various provisions stipulated in WTO agreements. Seen from the concept of "graduation" development taxonomy designed by USTR contains various weaknesses and was not based on transparent and data-driven methodology, this has caused some WTO developing country members to lose their status prematurely. This unilateral action taken by the USTR also contradicted various provisions stipulated in the GATT, Enabling Clause, Marrakesh Agreement, and Doha Declaration, and was not in accordance with the WTO's noble goal of advancing the economies of developing countries.