“Negotiations were difficult but ultimately fruitful”, concluded Donald Tusk after Tuesday’s European Union-China summit in Brussels. The two sides achieved their main objective for their meeting, namely to come up with a joint statement that is meaningful enough to EU capital and commits both sides to specific actions. “In today’s …
WTO crisis and reform
WTO report on Russia-Ukraine transit to test future of trading system
Russia and the United States rarely agree on anything in global politics. But Washington was the only World Trade Organization member that supported Moscow in a highly-politicised legal argument at the organisation’s dispute settlement body that many see as entailing systemic ramifications for the multilateral trading system.
Venezuela crisis adds fuel to WTO dispute settlement crisis
Some trade policy experts have warned that World Trade Organization cases involving national security topics could destroy the institution. A new incident in Geneva shows that at the very least it’s getting rockier by the day for the rules-based system for adjudicating trade disputes. Such warnings were made as the …
Commission hopes for swift mandate for US trade talks – debate on fish, speed and WTO continues
Member state trade ministers gathered in the Romanian capital Bucharest today to take stock of current European Union trade files. The most pressing issue on the table was the EU-US trade relationship. But capitals also discussed the way forward for the World Trade Organization and other bilateral trade files. Despite …
Beyond Brussels: Venezuelan WTO challenge is latest to touch national security issue
Venezuela struck back this week against US sanctions targeting the government of President Nicolás Maduro, filing a World Trade Organization complaint that accuses Washington of imposing “coercive trade-restrictive measures on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the context of attempts to isolate Venezuela economically”. The dispute is the latest touching …
What lies ahead for the WTO this year?
Jennifer Freedman explains what awaits the World Trade Organization in 2019.
Beyond Brussels: The new US argument against the Appellate Body
The US and a dozen other World Trade Organization members have finally agreed about something concerning the Appellate Body: the WTO’s highest court has no authority to issue rulings that set a binding precedent. This issue is a non-issue in the eyes of WTO members including the EU, Canada, Japan …
Beyond Brussels: WTO Appellate Body sees no reform prospect, gets by with rotation system
Formal EU proposals to reform the World Trade Organization don’t go far enough in pulling in the reins of Appellate Body judges, the US ambassador to the WTO said this week. The appellate function will continue for now on the basis of a rotation system.
Comment: US divide-and-rule tactics enter WTO as Section 232 cases begin
The launch of dispute panels on US Section 232 panels has brought explosive bilateral power-playing by the US right into the heart of the World Trade Organization, argues Iana Dreyer.
China and India join ‘friends of system’ in WTO Appellate Body reform bid
Beijing and New Delhi are almost entirely on the same page with the EU when it comes to reforming the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body. But the US is not showing signs of relenting in its veto on appointments of new judges. Nor are China or India agreeing on the …
