Senior trade officials from 29 World Trade Organization member states called for the “swift” appointment of a new WTO director-general and the restoration of the nonfunctioning dispute settlement system (see 2012110032), during a Jan. 29 virtual ministerial meeting, according to a summary released by Guy Parmelin, president of Switzerland and host for the meeting. The officials -- representing the U.S., China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Kenya and others -- also stressed the importance of maintaining open trade during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery period.
The Ottawa Group, which includes the European Union, Japan, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, Canada and others, is arguing that a coordinated global response is needed to COVID-19, including cooperating on vaccine distribution, and trade in other medical supplies, and says regulatory compatibility on these goods should be improved so that the world will be ready for the next pandemic.
Ambassadors to the World Trade Organization said they're hoping the new Joe Biden administration will line up behind Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for director-general, and will get serious about finding a way to resuscitate the Appellate Body, though they acknowledged the latter may have to wait for the COVID-19 crisis in America to subside. Ambassadors from Canada, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Switzerland spoke on a webinar Dec. 11 hosted by the Washington International Trade Association.
A group of World Trade Organization members proposed an initiative that would call for a range of measures to increase trade in medical goods, including “restraint” in deploying export restrictions, more efficient customs measures and increased transparency for trade in medical goods, the European Commission said Nov. 23. The 13-member Ottawa Group, which includes the European Union, Japan, Australia, Kenya, Chile, Norway and others, also said WTO members should refrain from imposing tariffs on medical goods as a way to help “facilitate trade” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative will be submitted to the WTO secretariat this week before heading to the WTO General Council for discussion.
The U.S. and eight other countries speaking at the World Trade Organization said they're concerned about the expected proposal from the European Union to implement a carbon border tax as part of its climate change mitigation policy. The proposal is expected next year. A Geneva trade official said the EU started the discussion at a Committee on Trade and the Environment meeting Nov. 16. The countries that are concerned want to make sure subsidies for EU industries in green energy will be fair; that costs aren't borne only by producers; and that any action is WTO-compliant.
The World Trade Organization announced on Nov. 6 that a planned meeting for Nov. 9 to choose the next director-general for the organization will be postponed until further notice. “It has come to my attention that for reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on 9 November,” Ambassador David Walker, chair of the general council, said. The U.S. has opposed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the candidate most likely to win consensus (see 2010280051), as the Office of U.S. Trade Representative says the WTO needs someone with trade experience. Okonjo-Iweala is an economist with experience at the World Bank and nonprofits, as well as government service (see 2010290030).
The Hong Kong ambassador to the World Trade Organization told the U.S. ambassador there that Hong Kong is initiating a dispute, and wants formal bilateral consultations on the U.S. decision to require goods made in Hong Kong to be marked 'Made in China.'
The U.S. supports South Korea's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee rather than the Nigerian candidate for director-general, even though the latter has more support, because the World Trade Organization “must be led with someone with real, hands-on experience in the field,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in an Oct. 28 statement, saying “the WTO is badly in need of major reform,” and that Yoo is a “bona fide trade expert.”
The World Trade Organization member countries cleared the way for the European Union to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. exports because of past tax breaks for the Boeing Company. In the EU's Oct. 26 response to the development, Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis reiterated that the EU would prefer a settlement that drops tariffs on EU goods rather than imposing tariffs on U.S. exports. “The European Commission is preparing the countermeasures, in close consultation with our Member States. As I have made clear all along, our preferred outcome is a negotiated settlement with the U.S. To that end, we continue to engage intensively with our American counterparts, and I am in regular contact with U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer,” he said in the release.
Although Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organization, had more support from member countries, her rival, Korea's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, was not withdrawn from the contest on Oct. 28, and there is no consensus on who the next woman to lead the organization will be. Retired trade attorney Terry Stewart blogged on the Washington International Trade Association website about why that might be and what's next. He said that given press reports, it looked like Okonjo-Iweala, who spent most of her career as an economist at the World Bank, had support from more than 100 of the WTO's 164 member countries. Discussions will continue with the U.S. and Korea to see if they will support Okonjo-Iweala, he said. The deadline for the consensus-based decision-making is Nov. 7. If no result is achieved, there can be a vote in Geneva, and the candidate with the most support can win without unanimity.