This week China hosted a small ministerial conference with around thirty members of the World Trade Organization in Shanghai. Little has been reported about this low-key meeting. But it appears to have brought some movement in specific WTO files. The gathering in Shanghai offered the opportunity for the EU to …
WTO crisis and reform
Beyond Brussels: China tables revised government procurement offer in WTO
The stink the United States and other advanced countries have been putting up in recent months at the World Trade Organization appears to be achieving some results. China and other countries have started listening. The behaviour and status of developing countries in the global trading system, industrial subsidies and state …
Facilitator sends reform package for WTO appeal mechanism to members for decision
The General Council of the World Trade Organization had an extensive discussion of reform proposals for the institutions’ Appellate Body put together by David Walker, New Zealand’s envoy to the institution in Geneva. The ball is now in the camp of the members to take further decisions in the coming …
Is a pathway out of the Appellate Body impasse in sight?
Perhaps the many behind-the-scenes meetings held by officials, experts and lawyers on the sides of the World Trade Organization’s Public Forum this week in Geneva will have been worth the time, energy and travel expenses. One cannot exclude some movement in the coming weeks over the organisation’s Appellate Body impasse, …
Appellate Body crisis: Chronicle of death foretold meets anger, indifference
The impending disappearance of the appeals mechanism for resolving disputes is rattling the World Trade Organization community as some WTO members are now focusing on alternative mechanisms to enable appeals in trade disputes. But perhaps more disturbingly: Are the majority of WTO members in fact quite indifferent to the fate …
EU and Canada establish bilateral appellate ‘body’ within the WTO
“Canada and the EU are proud to have demonstrated leadership in the creation of this interim arrangement”, reads a joint statement by Ottawa and Brussels released today (25 July). Will this be the first in a further series of ad hoc bilateral arrangements World Trade Organization members will establish to …
EU hopes for veterinary deal with US in 2020-2021
The latest progress report the European Commission released today (25 July) on the state of the bilateral conversation on trade policy with the United States reads like a political and business ‘pitch’ to Washington and European audiences more than anything else. Yet it offers some clues on where the two …
Week in Brussels: EU, Japan to appoint top-notch legal experts, Korea dispute festers
It’s getting ever clearer: the EU is planning to rely increasingly on its bilateral free trade agreements to settle trade disputes with its partners. It is now actively testing the ground.
Week ahead in EU trade: G20 fallout, parliament leadership race, EU Australia
It hasn’t been much of a weekend for European leaders. Nor for journalists. We’ve had: a handshake deal on the EU Mercosur free trade negotiations on Friday night with few details on its exact content, the signing of the EU Vietnam free trade agreement in Hanoi on Sunday (30 June), …
Week in Brussels: Finnish presidency priorities, INTA committee contours, investment facilitation
This week has mainly been about the EU-Vietnam trade agreement and the final stretches over the 20-year-old EU Mercosur trade negotiations.
