WTO Summit Produces Few Specific Solutions to Address Concerns
The European Union, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and seven other pro-trade countries agreed that "the current situation at the WTO is no longer sustainable," but they didn't put forth any specific solutions at the end of a summit in Ottawa Oct. 25. In a joint communique, the countries said they're concerned about a lack of compliance by WTO members on notifying other countries on subsidies or other requested disclosures, and they wrote, "we recognize the need to address market distortions caused by subsidies and other instruments."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
China, which is the largest culprit in this regard, was not invited to the summit, nor was the U.S., which is blocking appointments to the Appellate Body on dispute settlements. The countries at the summit said that vacancies on the Appellate Body create a risk to the WTO system, and they asked that the blocking stop, without mentioning the U.S. by name. They said they are "ready to work on solutions" to concerns about the dispute settlement system.
Again, without pointing fingers, the participants wrote: "We are deeply concerned by recent developments in international trade, particularly the rise in protectionism, which negatively affect the WTO and put the entire multilateral trading system at risk." The ministers will meet again in January, and they said they will bring forward specific ideas then on how to improve the notifications.
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, issued a release after the summit saying he's pleased that some of America's key trading partners are engaged in serious discussion of the U.S. concerns about the WTO. "I strongly support the WTO because strong and enforceable rules are in the U.S. interest. But the WTO urgently needs reform to keep the organization well-functioning and viable, including with respect to negotiations toward new agreements as well as improving dispute resolution," he said. He pointed to Appellate Body "overreach" and "gap filling," and its need to meet deadlines that were established at the time it was created. He said one of the key reforms he'd like to see is "meaningful consequences if WTO members continue to ignore their commitments to submit timely notifications" on their compliance.