The facilitator overseeing the work on the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement reform presented a report June 20 on various aspects of the central issue concerning the “appeal/review” mechanism that could replace the binding Appellate Body and thereby attenuate the enforcement function of the multilateral trade body, said people familiar with the developments. Without a robust enforcement function undergirding the two-tier dispute settlement system, which is seen as the jewel in the crown of the Uruguay Round trade agreements that created the WTO in 1995, the value purpose of negotiating any new agreements would become meaningless, said people familiar with the negotiations.

Aid for Trade unlocked $648 billion between 2006 and 2022, according to a new World Trade Organization report. In her opening remarks at the WTO’s meeting on aide for trade, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said: "One of the most remarkable changes since 1995 is that trade-enabled growth has lifted over 1.5 billion people out of extreme poverty.”

The United States, China and New Zealand used a meeting on aid for trade to to pitch for early conclusion of the World Trade Organization’s fisheries subsidies agreement.   The meeting became a venue for advancing the stalled fisheries subsidies agreement which continues to suffer from alleged historical asymmetries. 

The outgoing chair of the World Trade Organization’s Council for Trade in Services presented many recommendations yesterday for “reinvigorating” the work in services trade, which appears to have become a casualty due to the pursuit of joint statement initiatives instead of multilateral processes, said people familiar with the developments.

 Sharp divisions marked an informal meeting convened by Brazil at the World Trade Organization to discuss the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security, with one country saying that there is no legitimacy to the Brazilian informal process, according to people familiar with the discussions. The informal meeting appears to have been embroiled over procedural issues, after India challenged the “legitimacy” of the process, said people familiar with the developments.

The new chair of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Trade and Environment has shared ideas on how to advance thematic sessions on few topics in the complex and controversial arena of trade and climate change – where there is no clear mandate from the WTO’s recent 13th ministerial conference, said people familiar with developments.

A concept note issued ahead of the proposed workshop on the way forward in the World Trade Agriculture negotiations on July 2-3 acknowledges for the first time that the lack of progress in agriculture talks is due to “jettisoning of the single undertaking approach in the Doha negotiations in 2011.” The three-page concept note, titled “Rebuilding trust and progress to address contemporary challenges,” blames the stalled talks on the: “Difficulties in finding balances and trade-offs after the jettisoning of the single undertaking approach in the Doha negotiations in 2011, and the subsequent acknowledgment of differences on the agreed Doha negotiations framework and architecture as resulting from the Bali and Nairobi Decisions.”

Several industrialized countries, including the United States and China, as well as developing countries, actively engaged in the informal process launched by Brazil on how to move the agriculture negotiations forward, said people familiar with the developments. However, at that meeting, several other developing and some least-developed countries, including India, clearly signaled their indifference to a parallel informal process outside the discussions that come under the purview of the Doha agriculture negotiating body, which is rebranded as the Committee on Agriculture Special Session, said people familiar with the discussions.

Many World Trade Organization members called for preserving the two-tier dispute settlement system, including the binding Appellate Body, at the first formal meeting on dispute settlement reform, said people familiar with the discussions. At the Head of Delegations meeting, the new facilitator, Ambassador Usha Dwaraka-Canabady of Mauritius, explained the process she will follow in the coming days and months.

India continues to take the position that the Investment Facilitation Agreement for Development Agreement cannot be part of the World Trade Organization’s rulebook. India reiterated its position at the General Council meeting last week, even as the United States, without joining the IFDA, supported its integration into Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement, said people familiar with the development.

Several countries, including China, Indonesia, and India among others, strongly supported the African Group’s proposal on “policy space for industrial development- advancing WTO Committee work to support structural transformation and industrial development in developing countries” during the WTO’s General Council meeting last week, said people familiar with the discussions.

Countries are mulling over what to do next after failing to meet a deadline to produce an agreement to prepare for future health crises in two years. African states would like to see a deal this year, while others argue for a longer extension.

World Trade Organization General Council Chair Petter Olberg informed members yesterday that a retreat will be convened on July 8-9 to discuss how the WTO can remain a “forward-looking organization” amidst continued stalemates on several issues, said people familiar with the development. The hidden goal of the retreat seems to be aimed at changing the consensus-based decision-making as enshrined in the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995, said a trade envoy who asked not to be quoted.

A group of developing and developed members appealed for the EU to postpone the implementation of its new Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR).

With the enforcement function of the World Trade Organization having been broken amidst escalating trade tensions, the new facilitator for overseeing the reform of the fractured dispute settlement system has her task cut out, particularly in restoring a binding Appeal/Review mechanism that provides legal certainty in resolving global trade disputes, said people familiar with the development.

A clash of perspectives on the continuation of “consensus-based decision-making” surfaced at the World Trade Organization, after a group of countries floated a proposal on “responsible consensus,” which was earlier echoed by the United States, said people familiar with the development.

Despite repeated requests to increase the World Trade Organization’s budget during 2022 and 2023, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says that “the organization will have a budgetary surplus of CHF 4.8 million (close to USD 5 million)”, an increase that prompted her to seek “stepping up our recruitment to hire the very best staff.” The DG has embarked on reforming the Secretariat based on a McKinsey and Company report. The reform process generated considerable controversy in the organization, said several people familiar with the reform-related developments.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM), tensions were palpable. Key issues of contention included compliance failures with subsidy notifications and …

The chair for the Doha fisheries subsidies negotiations Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland issued two documents for members on Friday to mull over some difficult issues on which ministers failed …

Global goods trade is expected to pick up gradually this year following a contraction in 2023 that was driven by the lingering effects of high energy prices and inflation, WTO economists said in a new forecast on 10 April. Notably, digitally delivered services have shown significant resilience and growth, totaling US$ 4.25 trillion in 2023, a 9% increase from the previous year and representing 13.8% of global exports. These services have now surpassed pre-pandemic levels by more than 50%.