The trade ministers for nearly 30 least-developed countries (LDCs) released a declaration laying out their trade priorities in advance of the 12th Ministerial Conference being held Nov. 30 - Dec. 3, the World Trade Organization said. The priorities include equal access to and faster distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and effective implementation of integration of LDCs into the global trading system. This latter point includes preferential rules of origin decisions, an LDC services waiver and duty-free market access for LDC products, the WTO said. The LDCs also called for a working group on WTO reforms to be launched at MC12. “MC12 should respond adequately to mitigate the social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ali Djadda Kampard, Chad’s minister for trade and industry and coordinator of the WTO LDC Group.
Ukraine launched a safeguard investigation on tricone drilling bits Oct. 13, it notified the World Trade Organization, the WTO said Oct. 22. The investigation will cover drilling bits with working parts other than natural or artificial diamond, "regardless of the country of origin and export." Ukraine cited substantial evidence from a national producer that documented increased imports of the subject merchandise could cause injury to the domestic producer. Ukraine's Ministry of Economy will conduct a registration of interested parties within 30 days from the publication of its Oct. 11 notice of the decision to conduct the inquiry.
The World Trade Organization noted positive developments on the COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property waiver during small group and bilateral meetings at the Oct. 13-14 meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. TRIPS Council Chair Dagfinn Sorli of Norway said that WTO member state consultations will continue with the goal of achieving a consensus before the 12th Ministerial Conference begins Nov. 30 (see 2110140047). The recent small group and bilateral meetings focused on consolidating the two IP waiver proposals -- one from South Africa and India, the other from the European Union. Discussions seek to balance concerns over vaccine access from less developed nations and innovation incentive concerns from developed nations.
Alan Wolff, a former deputy director-general at the World Trade Organization, called on China to join the WTO Pharmaceutical Agreement, play a constructive role in the fisheries negotiations, and lead in restarting the Environmental Goods Agreement.
The World Trade Organization on Oct. 15 published the agenda for the next meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, set to be held Oct. 26. Agenda items include reviewing the status of implementation of recommendations adopted by the body, with the U.S. providing a status report on the following: its antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; Section 110 (5) of the U.S. Copyright Act; its antidumping and countervailing duties on large residential washers from South Korea; and certain of its methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China. Also, the DSB will discuss the U.S.'s Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, along with a statement by the European Union related to it; and a U.S. statement on the implementation of the recommendations of the DSB regarding measures affecting trade in large civil aircraft. Also, the body will take up a request by Australia for the establishment of a panel on China's antidumping and countervailing duty measures on Australian wine.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that formal negotiations over issuing an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines are "stuck," but that compromise stands within reach. Speaking at an event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, she said that balancing the concerns of less developed nations that seek greater vaccine access and developed countries that seek to protect the incentives and rewards of innovation of the vaccines is "practical" and eminently possible. Okonjo-Iweala also hinted that informal talks are ramping up toward finding a solution to the waiver issue, known as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, waiver.
Turkey launched a safeguard investigation Oct. 9 on grinding balls and similar articles for mills, notifying the World Trade Organization of the probe, the WTO said Oct. 13. Interested parties can complete a questionnaire on the potential safeguard measures, with responses due within 30 days from the date of publication of the communique.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai called on the World Trade Organization to conclude the fisheries subsidies agreement, and said that discussions in Geneva about how to revive the Appellate Body should instead focus on what could incentivize countries to reach an agreement before years and years of litigation.
The World Trade Organization published two information notes Oct. 8, with one relating to COVID-19 vaccine production and tariffs on vaccine inputs, the other on trade-related bottlenecks on critical products to fight COVID-19. The first report, based on the Joint Indicative List of Critical COVID-19 Vaccine Inputs for Consultation, looks into the most favored nation tariffs and imports of these goods by the top 27 vaccine manufacturing countries to identify any chokepoints. The report found that critical product tariffs remain high, especially in certain developing companies, the WTO said.
The World Trade Organization released a new online tool for tracking changes to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) -- the system used to classify traded goods, the WTO said. The HS Tracker was developed with the World Customs Organization and is meant to aid customs officials and traders in preparing for HS amendments set to take effect Jan. 1, 2022.