Jennifer Nordquist has been appointed to serve as the new deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization, replacing Angela Ellard who will step down at the end of August, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala announced on July 28. Nordquist, whose appointment is effective Oct. 1, currently serves as counselor on the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House. She previously served as executive vice president of the Economic Innovation Group, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, executive director for the U.S. at the World Bank Group, and chief of staff and deputy of economic studies at the Brookings Institution.

Argentina formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on July 22, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 106. The WTO needs five more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.

The World Trade Organization's published its agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's July 25 meeting. The meeting will feature U.S. status reports on the implementation of DSB recommendations on: antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Status reports also are expected from Indonesia on measures related to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products and on certain measures concerning palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels.

Arbitrators issued an award in the EU's dispute on China's enforcement of intellectual property rights under the World Trade Organization's Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA). The arbitrators said that the EU showed that China has an anti-suit injunction policy for its courts and that parts of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) aren't confined to ensuring a patent owner's exclusive rights in each member's domestic legal system.

Zambia formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on July 14, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 105. The WTO needs six more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on July 11, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 104. The WTO needs seven more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.

Ghana formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on July 2, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 103. The WTO needs eight more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.

The U.K. announced June 26 that it will join the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), which is an arbitral alternative to the World Trade Organization's defunct Appellate Body, according to the Department for Business and Trade. The U.K. said the move demonstrates the nation's "commitment to an effective rules-based international trading system."

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body on June 23 agreed to establish dispute panels in China's case against Canada's tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products and Canada's dispute against Chinese import duties on Canadian agricultural and fisheries products, the WTO announced.

The World Trade Organization's Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures agreed during its meeting June 17-19 to establish a new working group on improving the transparency of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.