The World Trade Organization, along with the International Trade Centre and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, released the World Tariff Profiles 2021 July 14 -- a comprehensive publication on the tariffs and nontariff measures enacted by over 170 countries and customs territories. The publication includes summary tables that allow comparisons across countries of the average or maximum tariff each economy puts on its imports and the average in-practice tariff rate. Each country or customs territory also has its own one-page profile with breakout lines for each product group. The profiles report, in a new section, also breaks down nontariff measures, looking at three indicators of NTMs (frequency index, coverage ratio and prevalence score). Almost 60% of imported goods need to comply with at least one NTM, leading to almost 80% of imported goods by value being subjected to NTMs, the report said.

The World Trade Organization issued an indicative list of critical inputs for the "manufacturing, distributing and administering" of COVID-19 vaccines on July 7. The list was first compiled at a COVID-19nvaccine supply chain symposium and jointly produced with the Asian Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Customs Organization, some COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, researchers Chad Bown and Chris Rogers, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and DHL. While the list holds no legal status, it is based on the 2017 Harmonized System and is intended to help scale up global vaccine production and cooperation, according to an accompanying press release. The list was also released "without prejudice to the actual tariff classification assigned by WTO members' customs administrations at the time of importation."

World Trade Organization Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, who chairs WTO's fisheries subsidies negotiation, submitted on June 30 a revised version of the draft text on the fisheries subsidies agreement. A ministerial meeting will be held July 15. The revised text includes an initial text on the prohibition of subsidies on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, subsidies toward overcapacity and overfishing, and specific provisions for least developed country members. “In this sense, the text should help ministers to engage on 15 July in a way that will provide us the kind of push and political guidance that we need at this stage to be able to move towards conclusion,” Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement. “I sense a change in mood, and we should take advantage of that mood to push towards concluding these negotiations.”

The deadline for least developed countries to align their intellectual property rights protections under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which was to expire July 1, is now July 1, 2034, a June 29 WTO news release said. TRIPS Council members approved the 13-year extension June 29. The TRIPS transition period for LDCs has twice before been extended -- in 2005 and 2013.

The European Union and the U.S. working together have the leverage to change China's distortions in the world economy, experts speaking during a three-day series on EU-U.S. trade issues said. But it's not easy, with the economic interests of German manufacturers in China, the history of trade tensions across the Atlantic, and bureaucratic torpor on both sides, they said.

World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard focused on the positive in her keynote speech to the American Association of Exporters and Importers, even as she recognized the strain the COVID-19 pandemic put on trade and the rise in protectionism in recent years.

Australia filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization over what it says are unfair Chinese antidumping duties on Australian wine. It filed the complaint after “extensive consultation” with Australia’s winemakers, who have been subject to high duties for months (see 2012100016 and 2011300022), it said June 19. Although Australia initiated a WTO dispute resolution process, it said it “remains open to engaging directly with China to resolve this issue.”

The Japanese government has requested consultations with the government of China at the World Trade Organization over Chinese antidumping duties on stainless steel billets, hot-rolled coils and hot-rolled plates from Japan, it said in a June 15 consultation request. The measures are inconsistent with China's commitments in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, Japan said. The antidumping duties were not based on positive evidence, were imposed without proper analyses and were put in place without demonstrating a harm to domestic industry, the request said.

Ukraine launched a safeguard investigation into ceramic tiles June 1, then notified the World Trade Organization on June 4, according to a WTO news release. Following a petition from Ukrainian ceramics producers Interkerama, Kharkiv Title Plant and Zeus Ceramics, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine will conduct the investigation, the nation's state-run newspaper said in a report, according to an unofficial translation. After 30 days from the publication of the notice, the ministry will lock in the parties to the investigation and after 45 days will review the comments from the parties regarding the initiation of the investigation.

The World Trade Organization received an updated petition from online activist group Avaaz, signed by more than 2.7 million people, calling for universal access to COVID-19 vaccines, according to June 7 press release. Forty different organizations globally were involved in the petition, including Public Citizen, the People's Vaccine Alliance and Amnesty International. The petition was delivered the day before a meeting of the Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, where discussions are ongoing on a proposal to waive TRIPS Agreement obligations for the vaccine. "The WTO is very appreciative of the time and dedication that Avaaz and others continue to give to this important issue," said Bernard Kuiten, the WTO's head of external relations. "The WTO needs to be aware of citizens' views and concerns with trade matters that could directly affect them. Avaaz and others are helping to raise awareness about access to vaccines and their vital role in ensuring a global solution to the COVID-19 crisis." An original version of the petition had more than 900,000 signatures and was dropped off at the WTO on Dec. 9, 2020.