Safeguard

In international trade law, a safeguard is a restraint to protect home or national industries from foreign competition.

Within the WTO, safeguard measures were available under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (Article XIX).

However, they were infrequently used, and some governments preferred to protect their industries by "grey area" measures ("voluntary" export restraint arrangements on products such as cars, steel and semiconductors).

Safeguards are usually seen as responses to economic development and trade processes that align with international law, as opposed to negative practices, such as dumping or subsidies.

In the last respect, it is worthwhile to note that the People's Republic of China accepted that discriminatory safeguards may be imposed on its exports to other WTO members until 2013.