The United States is seeking an open-ended extension of the World Trade Organization moratorium on imposing customs duties on e-commerce transactions, according to a draft ministerial decision now circulating among members.

Trade envoys in Geneva expressed deep concern that reform of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system (DSS) is being sidelined in broader WTO modernization talks.

Members of the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) convened on 24 October, where ongoing gridlock over appellate appointments again overshadowed routine proceedings, according to a Geneva-based trade official.

The World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies officially entered into force on 15 September, marking the first multilateral accord in the WTO system with environmental sustainability at its core. The Agreement prohibits government support for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, fishing of overexploited stocks, and unregulated high seas fishing, representing a milestone in global efforts to restore fish stocks and safeguard marine ecosystems.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday welcomed Beijing’s decision to relinquish its claim to special and differential treatment (S&DT) in future WTO negotiations, calling the move a “pivotal moment” for the global trading system.

Artificial intelligence could expand global trade in goods and services by an extra 40% by 2040, provided governments bridge digital divides and keep markets open, according to the WTO’s World Trade Report 2025. Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the report poses a central challenge: “The question is whether AI will lift opportunities for all, or whether it will deepen existing inequalities and exclusion.”

President Trump has canceled $5 billion in foreign aid and international organization funding, including the United States’ $29 million annual contribution to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The move, executed under the Impoundment Control Act, marks the first use of “pocket rescission” authority in 50 years. Hurried courtroom maneuvers have ensued.

Brazil has formally initiated dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States over new tariff measures that Brasília says breach core multilateral trade rules.

Global services trade expanded by 5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, half the growth rate seen in both 2024 and 2023, according to WTO-UNCTAD estimates.

For the 88th time, the United States blocked a joint appeal by over 130 WTO members to fill vacancies on the Appellate Body, reiterating longstanding concerns about its functioning. At a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), the U.S. delegation maintained that reforms addressing systemic issues remain unfulfilled.

China should not have been allowed to join the World Trade Organization, according to President Trump’s nominee to be US ambassador to the global trade body.

Ambassador Ali Sarfraz Hussain of Pakistan, Chair of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Agriculture in Special Session, has informed members that he will not circulate a draft negotiating text on agriculture ahead of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), scheduled for March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, according to sources familiar with the closed-door meeting.

Several World Trade Organization members are raising questions about US financial assistance to farmers and whether Washington intends to comply with WTO rules by notifying the programs as domestic support.

The Chair of the WTO’s Council for Trade in Services – Special Session has outlined a potential path to restart long-stalled Doha services negotiations, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Council has become a focal point for member states’ growing frustration with the United States’ unilateral tariff regime. Over the course of the two-day meeting, members including China, the European Union, and the so-called “Friends of the System” coalition led by Singapore and Switzerland, strongly criticized the Trump Administration’s tariffs as violations of core WTO principles, while the U.S. defended its actions by pointing to longstanding systemic failings within the organization.

At Friday's meeting of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), chaired by Ambassador Clare Kelly of New Zealand, members addressed multiple active disputes, procedural developments, and the persistent impasse over the Appellate Body appointments.

The WTO Secretariat and IMF's Tariff Tracker is now live on the new "Tariff actions" section of the WTO Tariff & Trade Data portal. The downloadable dataset provides the "applied effective tariff" imposed by customs authorities on various products since 1 January 2025.

Ongoing global trade tensions overshadowed the 13–14 May meetings of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Committee on Market Access (CMA), which marked its 30th anniversary. The session, chaired on an interim basis by Ms. Nicola Waterfield of Canada, featured pointed exchanges over recent U.S. tariff actions, China’s reciprocal measures, and the European Union’s deforestation-related trade regulation.

The European Union has formally initiated arbitration under Article 25 of the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) in the ongoing intellectual property dispute with China (DS611), concerning Beijing’s enforcement practices in standard-essential patent (SEP) litigation. The EU’s notice of appeal, circulated to WTO members Thursday, marks the second appeal proceeding conducted under the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), which substitutes the WTO Appellate Body’s functions for participating members.

The stakes for the WTO’s future are teeteringly high. Economists warn that Trump’s attempts to bypass the organization and bargain bilaterally with dozens of countries – in breach of the “most favored nation” rule meant to ensure all member states share the same trade advantages – risk unravelling the multilateral system the organization was established to uphold.