The European Union’s messaging ahead of the coming selection process for a new director-general for the World Trade Organization is cause for embarrassment, opines Iana Dreyer. But there is still time to change course.
World Trade Organization
García-Bercero: Africa critical to successful WTO overhaul
“It is important not to be purely obsessed with China as being the only factor that plays a role in World Trade Organization reform,” said Ignacio García-Bercero at a recent event in London. The European Commission’s former man in charge of handling EU-US trade relations is tabling some new ideas …
Week in Brussels: Hogan on Azevêdo, G20, Turkish steel, Com sues Finland and UK on BITs
It’s been quite a week, with the World Trade Organization’s chief resigning on Thursday, adding another twist to the ongoing drama in the world trading system. But other news have been drowned in the process. A selection below. Hogan wants to move fast to replace WTO’s Azevêdo The European Union’s …
In Brief. WTO: DG Azevêdo expected to resign as MPIA progresses
Whether it is a mere coincidence or whether there is a correlation between the two new items that came out this morning is somewhat early to ascertain, but both signal that matters are in great flux at the World Trade Organization. Bloomberg reported in the early hours of today that …
A post COVID-19 trade conversation between the EU and the US
European Union trade commissioner Phil Hogan announced he wanted a reset of trade relations with the United States during an interactive session with an e-audience of hundreds of listeners convened by the Irish think tank Institute on International and Economic Affairs on Wednesday. The two have plenty to talk about …
WTO: LDCs plea on medical, food exports, UK in ‘friends of system’ export pledge
There is continued movement around the issue of restrictions on exports of medical products in the World Trade Organization. LDCs call on WTO members not to restrict medical, food exports Benin, on behalf of the group of Least Developed Countries in the World Trade Organization, requested that other members of …
Will the trading system recover from COVID-19?
Which way will the already battered trading system go? The COVID-19 pandemic has seen trade restrictions on medical products spread like wildfire as governments seek to maximise availability of scarce goods to their peoples and their medical teams in a beggar-thy-neighbour fashion. As of early May, a group of researchers …
Iceland, Pakistan, Ukraine join MPIA as new arrangement made official at WTO
The official countdown has now started for a new alternative appeals mechanism to start functioning among a subset of World Trade Organization members who decided they’d stand up for their right to enjoy two-level adjudication of disputes. The MPIA, the acronym for the new ‘arrangement’, was announced one month ago …
Blog: Dispute settlement update – South Africa, Spanish olives, Appellate Body, Boeing
EU-South Africa frozen chicken dispute notched up one level further After 18 months of consultations the EU decided to request a formal panel in its long-standing dispute with the Southern African Developing Community over the latter’s safeguard on imports of frozen bone-in chicken. The EU criticises the data and the …
Leap of faith: the new 16-member alternative appeals tribunal at the WTO
Less than four months after the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization ceased to function sixteen members of the Geneva-based organisation announced they had agreed to an alternative mechanism to settle legal disputes at appellate level.
