World Trade Organization members conducted an "informal retreat" at the trade body's headquarters Sept. 25-26 to talk trade and industrial policy as part of a broader reform discussion, the WTO said. The members emerged with three primary themes: "policy space in support of industrialization in developing countries including least developed countries; industrial subsidies -- opportunities and challenges for the global trading system; and the way forward." WTO members' senior officials will meet Oct. 23-24 to hand their negotiators "political direction" ahead of the 13th Ministerial Conference, which is set for Feb. 26-29.
Australia will continue its case at the World Trade Organization against China's tariff treatment of wine imports and reject Beijing's proposal to curtail the issue to China's case against Australia's treatment of steel products. Australian Agriculture Minister Murray Watt told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the government sees the cases as "entirely separate matters."
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai laid out her priorities for reforming the World Trade Organization, providing concrete options that the U.S. and other WTO members can take to reinvigorate the international trade forum. In a Sept. 22 speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Tai said that the biggest tenets of WTO reform revolve around "improving transparency," rebuilding the body's ability to negotiate new rules for new challenges and dispute settlement reform.
Ukraine filed dispute cases at the World Trade Organization against Hungary, Poland and Slovakia concerning their bans on Ukraine's agricultural exports, the country's Ministry of Economy announced, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said the three nations' "unilateral ban" violates the countries' international obligations.
China will appeal a World Trade Organization panel ruling rejecting its claim that the retaliatory tariffs placed on the U.S. in response to Section 232 duties were justified, the country's Ministry of Commerce said Sept. 19, according to an unofficial translation. Beijing will appeal "into the void" seeing as the Appellate Body currently doesn't function, barring future enforcement action against China in the dispute.
The World Trade Organization on Sept. 15 released a new publication covering export controls. The report looks at "how WTO members have used different international agreements" beyond the trade body as grounds to set export regulations to support initiatives in "environmental protection, hazardous waste management, weapons control and combating illegal drugs trade."
On a panel on critical minerals ally-shoring, panelists representing the perspective of Latin America, the U.S., the EU and, to some degree, China, agreed that the current race to lock down supplies of the raw materials needed for advanced batteries, wind turbines and computer chips is one where every man is out for himself, and resource-rich countries in the Global South are exploited.
Leaders of the World Trade Organization said during the group's annual forum that the WTO should be involved in coordinating clean steel standards and trade policies that encourage decarbonization in steelmaking.
The World Trade Organization touted new evidence of how "more inclusive [economic] integration" can benefit the friction points of security interests, inclusiveness and environmental policies in the face of early signs of global trade fragmentation. In its World Trade Report 2023, released Sept. 12, the WTO focuses on globalization and how, despite current challenges, international trade is thriving and stands as a solution to many global issues.
New Zealand became the 17th member country to formally accept the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Fisheries and Subsidies, the WTO announced. The deal would impose rules to crack down on subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. New Zealand's announcement means nearly 40% of member states have ratified the deal, which requires acceptance by two-thirds of WTO members to enter into force.