July 30, 2010  China.  China has denied US charges that it unfairly forces foreign firms to transfer technology as the price of admission to its huge market, saying its policies were in line with world trade rules. "Countries around the world have taken a lot of measures to encourage technology innovation," a commerce ministry official has stated. "The Chinese policies are in line with relevant WTO rules." The comments were in response to a US Chamber of Commerce report this week that accused China of abusing the allure of its vast market to push foreign companies to transfer their latest technologies to Chinese competitors. This was a "blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seen before", it said. The chamber's report is the latest in a chorus of complaints by foreign businesses and governments over perceived unfair policies and market restrictions in the world's third-largest economy. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk joined the fray on Wednesday, responding to the chamber's complaints by saying Washington planned to push Beijing on the issue. "That is going to be one of the top items that we continue to engage China on," Kirk told reporters in Washington. China committed at high-level Sino-US talks in May that its innovation policies would be non-discriminatory, protect foreign intellectual property rights (IPR), and ensure open markets and trade, according to Washington.

July 29, 2010  Russia.  The United States and Russia are making progress in efforts to accelerate Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization, President Barack Obama's top trade official has stated. US officials in Geneva and Brussels were discussing with their Russian counterparts various technical issues linked to the WTO membership issue. Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during talks in Washington last month that he would help Russia accelerate its bid to join the WTO and that he hoped Moscow could clear final hurdles to accession as early as September 30. "We have a team that has been in Geneva and Brussels that have been working with Russia to encourage them to make sure we get the documents and the products that we need, that we can make an assessment on that."  U.S. trade rep Ron Kirk did not give details on the process but indicated that top officials had been on track in devising a "working framework to address some of the outstanding issues" related to US and Russia's positions over the WTO membership. Kirk said the leaders "very pointedly" directed him and his Russian counterpart to come up with the framework.

July 28, 2010  U.S. GM crops.  The largest U.S. farm group has urged the Obama administration to begin steps towards imposing sanctions on the European Union in a long running dispute over the EU's treatment of genetically modified crops. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in comments given to the administration on Monday, complained the EU still has not complied with a 2006 World Trade Organization ruling against its "de facto" moratorium on approving new varieties of biotech crops for sale in the 27-nation bloc. "The inability of the EU to operate a timely and predictable regulatory process ended U.S. corn exports (to the EU) in 1998 and has reduced corn byproducts substantially," the Farm Bureau said in its recommendations for President Barack Obama's National Export Initiative.

The request comes just a few days before U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk is due to give a speech in Pittsburgh on the Obama administration's efforts to ensure other countries live up to trade agreements. U.S. farmers have widely embraced genetically modified crops, which offer higher yields with reduced pesticides. But the technology is viewed with suspicion by many European consumers because of perceived safety concerns. The United States first challenged the EU's de facto moratorium and other policies that impeded sales of U.S. genetically modified crops at the WTO in 2003 and was joined by Canada and Argentina. The WTO's 2006 ruling largely backed the complaint brought by the three countries, who argued the EU was failing to apply its own scientific approval procedures to GM products. Since then, the United States has agreed at least twice to give the EU more time to comply with the ruling. Washington also began steps in January 2008 to retaliate against the European Union, but later suspended that action.

July 27, 2010  Taiwan.  A World Trade Organization ruling against the European Union imposing high tariffs on Taiwan-made flat-screen panels could significantly boost the Taiwanese industry. The Dispute Settlement Body of the Geneva-based WTO determined Friday that the EU should not impose tariffs on liquid crystal display panel imports. The ruling would waive the 14 percent tariff the EU has imposed on display panels of 19-inchese or larger. Taiwan filed a trade complaint with the WTO in 2008, arguing panels should enjoy duty-free trade like other information technology products. The WTO ruling, which will take effect in December unless the EU appeals, would allow Taiwanese makers to compete fairly against LG Display and Samsung Electronics Co. The South Korean makers enjoy duty-free panel exports under a free trade agreement with the EU.

July 26, 2010  World trade.  The World Trade Organization stated its forecast for growth of global commerce to 10 percent this year, with its director general saying that even this might yet "turn out to be too low." WTO chief Pascal Lamy said: "Our forecast for world trade this year is plus 10 percent in volume after the minus 12 (percent) we registered in '09." Lamy was speaking to reporters, at the launch of the trade body's annual report on the sidelines of the Shanghai World Expo. In a separate speech at Shanghai's Institute of Foreign Trade, the WTO's director general said that after last year's dramatic slump, "trade growth is coming back fast, thanks in no small measure to the continuing dynamism of China and the others." "Unless there are unanticipated negative economic impacts in the second half of 2010, this estimate (of 10 percent) may even turn out to be too low," he added. The WTO's latest forecast marks a rise from the 9.5 percent issued in March. The secretariat had warned then that the figure could prove too optimistic as markets were at that point unsettled by Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

July 23, 2010  WTO.  The World Trade Organization (WTO) has agreed to establish a panel to rule on Indonesia’s complaint that a US ban on clove cigarettes aimed at preventing teenagers from starting to smoke was discriminatory, a government official says. Trade Ministry Director General of International Trade said the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) agreed during their second court session on July 20 to establish a panel to rule on the issue. “It agreed to establish a panel of experts despite ongoing US objections,” he stated. He said the panel of three judges would be assisted by third parties consisting of representatives from Guatemala, Brazil, the EU, Turkey and Norway. The US raised its objections on the establishment of a panel in the first DSB court session in June. “In the second court session, the US did not have the right to raise objections, something it was aware of,” adding that during the second meeting, the US delegation continued to object to the establishment of the panel. After the panel had been formed, he said, the Indonesian government would decide whether it would accept the established panel.

July 22, 2010  EU appeals Airbus subsidies ruling.  The European Union yesterday appealed a ruling by the World Trade Organization that found Airbus had received billions of dollars in illegal subsidies from European governments over the past four decades.  In the decision, released last month, the WTO ruled that Airbus had received loans from European governments at below-market interest rates to build several of its commercial airplanes, including the 525-seat A380 super jumbo jet, which cost an estimated $12 billion to develop. The appeals process is expected to last until the end of this year. If the appeal is rejected, Airbus could be required as early as next year to either repay a substantial part of the roughly $4 billion it received for the A380, or restructure the loans on commercial terms. Outstanding subsidies to other jet programs that were also found to be improper would need to be brought into compliance with WTO rules within the next two years, legal experts said. Brussels is also awaiting a confidential report in September on a counterclaim it filed with the W.T.O., alleging that Boeing, based in Chicago, received improper aid from the United States, mainly in the form of research and development financing. That report, originally expected last Friday, was delayed by the trade body’s dispute-settlement panel, which cited the complexities of the case.

July 21, 2010  EU.  European governments urged the European Union on Monday to complain to the World Trade Organization for delaying a decision on whether Boeing has benefiting from illegal subsidies, arguing that it has put Airbus at a competitive disadvantage. The complaints voiced by Britain, France and Spain at the Farnborough Airshow suggest that the Europeans are increasingly impatient with the world trade body, which last month said Airbus benefited from illegal subsidies. A report due on Boeing this month was delayed until September - and the European governments argue that it unfairly stigmatizes their efforts, particularly as world aircraft orders pick up. Britain's Business Minister Mark Prisk said he expected the EU to make a complaint, but the European Commission has not given a timeframe. It is unclear what impact such a complaint could have on the trade body. Prisk said the report on Boeing subsidies has to be examined together with the already published WTO report on Airbus subsidies if the EU and the U.S. are to resolve the issue -- and the delay means they are getting further apart.

July 20, 2010  Doha July 29-30.  The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the rules of trade between nations. It wants to conclude the stalled Doha Round of negotiations before December. This third 2010 meeting of the General Council will see if the new ingredients in the process can break the impasse. Agricultural subsidies and trade barriers related to industrial goods and services remain key sticking points, and carbon tariffs on imports loom as a new arena for disputes. The Director-General called for meetings organized by the chairs of the different negotiating groups; preliminary contacts between trade ministers; and his own consultations with delegations on general issues. He quipped that members must start shaking the ingredients “before the ice melts.” The Doha Round, launched in Nov 2001 in Doha, is aimed at reducing barriers so countries can increase trade globally. The European Union is considering border tariffs on imports from more polluting countries, according to Reuters, but sees the risk that the levies could spark trade wars. Keith Rockwell, WTO Information & External Relations, explained in an Asia News report on May 4 that many issues remain to be resolved and will be tricky, in trade in services, fishery subsidies, anti dumping. "These are important and they're difficult technically and politically, but the broadly held view is that agreement in industrial and agricultural goods, will provide the momentum to conclude the round." He sees governments' encouragement of domestic demand as a means to providing a balance to their growth that can contribute reducing trade tensions and a more positive political environment for completing the Doha Round.

July 19, 2010  Airbus and Boeing.  The head of Airbus parent EADS said he is "enormously frustrated" with the World Trade Organization, which he claims is being "unfair" by delaying its report on complaints against arch-rival Boeing. Both companies have been reported to the WTO, which has struggled for years to rule over whether they benefited from unfair subsidies. The problem for the WTO is that the companies are helped in different ways. Airbus benefits from launch aid - low interest government loans for new aircraft programs - while the European Union claims Boeing gains from research and development support and tax breaks. In June, the WTO ruled that Airbus benefited from some illegal subsidies. The ruling was used by Boeing and its supporters to claim that Airbus had an unfair advantage as the two plane makers battle to win a $35-billion U.S. air force contract for refueling jets. Airbus claims 70 percent of Boeing's arguments were defeated, and it was waiting for the WTO to rule on its counter complaint against Boeing to level the playing field. That report, which was due this month, has been delayed until September.

July 16, 2010  WTO.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that she hoped the recently formed Customs Union between Russian, Kazakhstan and Belarus will not hamper Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Angela Merkel arrived in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg Wednesday for the Russian-German interstate consultations. "We want Russia's accession to the WTO to be completed and hope the Customs Union will not make the situation more complicated. We want to see transparent investment conditions," Merkel said. Medvedev said that Russia is making progress towards WTO accession and has held talks with the United States on the issue. Russia has been in negotiations for WTO membership for 17 years and is the only major economy outside of the global trade body. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he hopes that Russia will complete negotiations on its accession by yearend. Medvedev and Merkel are also expected to discuss bilateral trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties, as well as international affairs. A total of 10 bilateral documents are expected to be signed, including a memorandum of understanding between the Skolkovo foundation, which supervises the eponymous innovation hub outside of Moscow, and Germany's Siemens AG.

July 15, 2010  U.S. trade deficit.  The trade deficit rose in May to an 18-month peak as rising imports offset another solid gain in U.S. exports. The surge in imports was a hopeful sign for the economic recovery because it suggested U.S. consumers could spend more in coming months.  The trade deficit increased 4.8 percent to $42.3 billion, the largest gap since November 2008, the Commerce Department stated. U.S. exports of goods and services rose 2.4 percent in May to $152.3 billion. It was the largest monthly total since September 2008, the month the financial crisis struck with force. Leading the strength in exports were heavy machinery, medical equipment, power generators and commercial planes.  Imports grew at an even faster clip. They rose 2.9 percent to $194.5 billion. The gain reflected higher demand for foreign-made cars and consumer goods such as clothing, furniture and electronic appliances. The surge came even though oil imports declined 9.1 percent as both the price and the volume of oil shipments declined. Economists said the widening trade deficit would likely reduce overall growth, as measured by the gross domestic product, in the April-to-June quarter. But in the long run, analysts hold out hope that the gains in both exports and imports point to higher business investment and consumer spending. Through May, the U.S. trade deficit is running at an annual rate of $474.8 billion, up by 26.6 percent from $374.9 billion deficit for all of 2009. That had been the lowest annual trade gap since 2001, another year when the country was in recession.

July 14, 2010  EU GM crops.  The European Union's executive said it will defend countries that choose to ban genetically modified (GM) crops under proposals tabled yesterday against trade disputes from the United States or others. "I will be backing member states with the United States, with the WTO, with whoever will be challenging if a challenge is coming on these issues, because I believe what we're doing is correct," European health commissioner John Dalli told EU lawmakers. In 2006 the the World Trade Organization largely backed a complaint brought against the EU in 2003 by the United States, Canada and Argentina, who argued the bloc was failing to apply its own scientific approval procedures to GM products.

July 13, 2010  WTO.  Negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland ended a week of agriculture talks last Friday, reporting "no breakthrough" in long-stalled World Trade Organization talks. The session will be the last until September, when negotiations are expected to resume. Governments are all sitting with their final negotiating cards - what they believe they can and cannot give up - held tightly to their chests, waiting for other countries to move first, in the analysis of WTO head Pascal Lamy. Amb. David Walker of New Zealand who chairs the WTO agriculture negotiations "urged members...to use the summer break to supply the information needed for the Secretariat to compile data that will become part of the 'modalities'," one trade official said following the July 9 session. Negotiators spent the week working on templates and discussing areas of substances where there are no agreements. Templates are blank forms which governments will use at the end of the talks to list their final commitments or promises, plus supply any supporting data. The New Zealand official told negotiators he had used part of last week to try to bridge differences over the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) which will permit countries to temporarily boost tariffs when faced with a sudden price collapse, or import surge. He also held talks on tariff simplification, another area of disagreement.

July 12, 2010  Yemen.  Yemen and the United States are expected to finalize a bilateral deal for Yemen's accession into the World Trade Organization this month. The deal would be signed when Yemen continues bilateral talks with some countries including Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and Honduras over the accession later in the month. Officials at the Communication and Coordination Office with the WTO were quoted as saying that the negotiation team will head to Geneva for the eighth round of talks on the accession led by Minister of Trade and Industry Yahya al Mutawakil. Yemen applied for WTO membership in July 2002. Giant strides have been made on the issue and the accession is expected by this year, according to officials.

July 9, 2010  U.S. and Taiwan.  U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Shear stated that Taiwan, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) , is eligible to negotiate free trade agreements (FTA) with other WTO member states. "Under WTO rules, any WTO member is free to negotiate trade agreements with other members as long as WTO standards are met, and we believe Taiwan should be able to do that," he said at a seminar in Washington, D.C. on relations across the Taiwan Strait. It marked the first time a U.S. official has clearly expressed a stance on Taiwan's bid to negotiate FTAs. Shear said, however, that "the United States has no plans to begin talks with Taiwan about an FTA at this time." Taiwan has expressed hopes to sign FTAs with other trade partners after concluding a landmark economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China at the end of June.

July 8, 2010  EU.  After decades of pushing nations to surrender more power to Brussels, the European Union is about to throw in the towel on one highly contentious issue: genetically modified foods.  Yesterday, the European Commission will formally propose giving back to national and local governments the freedom to decide whether to grow crops that many Europeans still call Frankenfoods. The new policy is aimed at overcoming a stalemate that has severely curtailed the market for biotech seeds in Europe for years. Only two crops, produced by Monsanto and B.A.S.F., are sold for cultivation here. The new flexibility is supposed to open up markets in countries like the Netherlands, where governments are broadly favorable toward growing and trading biotech products, while countries like Austria, where the products are unpopular, can maintain a ban.
But far from celebrating, the growing global industry, as well as some farmers themselves, is extremely wary of the new approach.

July 7, 2010  China and Taiwan.  Taiwan's new trade deal with China, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, has generated a lively debate on the island about its merits. Yet this deal provides President Ma Ying-jeou's administration with a unique window of opportunity to "re-globalize" Taiwan and boost its flagging competitiveness. This requires a clear economic and political strategy. Mr. Ma faces grave political challenges before he contemplates more trade action. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party mounted rallies and is still caterwauling about the deal, known as ECFA. Meanwhile, China maintains its claim to sovereignty over the democratic island. Clearly Mr. Ma faces a delicate balancing act. 

July 6, 2010  Argentina.  After several European Commission officials had made public the organization's concern over the alleged Argentine ban to imports coming from Europe, the ongoing controversy opened a new week of dispute: a document on "Argentina's protectionism" was filed to the World Trade Organization, within the framework of the "growing concern" several European Union countries are showing. The Argentine Government replied back and once more denied having implemented banning measures to imports coming from Europe. An Argentine delegate assured: "Our authorities record no halt to European vessels. Certain isolated cases had already been solved, but there are no implemented limitations on imports coming from Europe. The European Commission posted this issue during the World Trade Organization Council for Trade in Goods held in Geneva, Switzerland, in order to "obtain a response form Argentina," several sources stated, pointing out that this won't be a "formal demand" but a way of strengthening the matter. The Commission took advantage of the event, in which its 153 member states were taking part, to make its stance public. According to the Argentine delegate, "to include this topic in the Council's agenda was out of place, and seems to be revealing political underlying reasons of a much more complex to-be-debated-issue." The Council for Trade in Goods' meetings are secret and private, but some delegates have already confirmed that the European Union "concern" over Argentine imports-limitations are backed by several countries such as Canada, Colombia, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Norway and the United States. However, according to a source, the final decision will rely on the stance that France, Greece and Italy decide to show. Last week, after the European Commission spokesperson John Clancy formally addressed Argentine authorities and requested Buenos Aires to "stop blocking European import immediately," Industry Minister Débora Giorgi tackled the so-talked-about controversy and gave the official stance: according to her statements, the government is not blocking the entry of European food stuffs imports.

July 5, 2010  U.S. celebrates Independence Day.

July 2, 2010  Russia.  President Barack Obama's recent pledge to help Russia complete its 17-year quest to join the World Trading Organization may be just enough to get the deal over the finish line, trade experts state. President Barack Obama gave Russian efforts a shot in the arm at a hamburger-stand summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week when he said he hoped the talks in Geneva with the WTO and Russia could be completed by the end of September. Obama's decision to help Russia is part of a new muscular trade policy unveiled by the White House in recent days. The Obama administration also announced it wants to complete work on a trade deal with South Korea negotiated by President George W. Bush that it had ignored since coming into office.  The joke of course is that Russia has been six months away from joining the WTO over the last 17 years, and, as a result, no one is willing to call the agreement a 'done deal' even with Obama's backing. But experts said the only thing blocking an agreement has been political will, which both sides are now displaying.

July 1, 2010  Canada celebrates Canada Day.

July 1, 2010  China and Taiwan.  Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China was finally signed on June 29 in Chongqing, China, after months of negotiations. Proponents of the deal see an improved economic climate, while critics fear the loss of Taiwan's sovereignty. The free trade accord plans for 539 Taiwanese products, valued at US$13.8 billion, to obtain free entry into China, while 267 Chinese products, worth US$2.9 billion, should see their tariff rates brought down to zero upon entry into Taiwan. The deal will also open the two countries’ service sectors.

July 1, 2010  Airbus ruling.  The WTO released its 1,000-page report to U.S. trade officials and their European counterparts three month ago, but it had remained confidential until now so it could be officially translated. The USTR office had briefed members of Congress on the report in late March, but few details of the findings have been released. The ruling will not mark the end of the case, launched by the United States in October 2004, and the prospect of trade sanctions - if ever approved - is still far off. There are many opportunities for appeals and other legal maneuvers before the dispute is finally settled. The next major deadline could come on around July 16, when the WTO is expected to issue a confidential interim ruling in the counter-suit brought by the EU against the United States over subsidies for Boeing.

June 30, 2010  China.  China, facing a trade probe by the World Trade Organization on raw material export constraints, will continue to curb shipment and production of minor metals to conserve resources and limit pollution. China’s curbs on exports of some raw materials have triggered complaints by the European Union, U.S. and Mexico to the WTO, which is probing whether the policies give Chinese manufacturers an unfair edge. The nation in March said it stopped accepting applications for new mines to produce tungsten and antimony until June 2011. The Chinese government cut the 2010 export quota on tungsten, used in high-temperature applications such as light bulbs and rocket engines, to 14,300 metric tons, from 14,600 tons the previous year. The quota on molybdenum, used to toughen steel, was unchanged at 25,500 tons, according to the trade ministry. At the current pace of exploration and production, China’s resources of tungsten will last 20 years and molybdenum 100 years. The government in March said it wants to cap this year’s output of tungsten metal at 80,000 tons, antimony at 100,000 tons and rare earth at 89,200 tons.

June 30, 2010  U.S. and Taiwan.  The United States so far has not sought the assistance of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to resolve its beef trade dispute with Taiwan. The Geneva-based WTO is scheduled to call a meeting in July to review Taiwan's trade policy. It will be the second such review since Taiwan's accession to the world trade regulatory body in 2002. There has been speculation on whether the U.S. government will bring up its beef trade dispute with Taiwan at the meeting, as Taiwan and the U.S. are no closer to resolving the issue since it arose late last year. Taiwan struck a deal with the U.S. last October that would see Taiwan lifting import bans on U.S. bone-in beef and bovine offal. The deal sparked strong opposition in Taiwan and prompted the Legislative Yuan to pass legal amendments to bar imports of U.S. ground beef and bovine offal over mad cow disease concerns. The reversal, however, drew a backlash from the U.S., which said the move undermined Taiwan's credibility as a trading partner and threatened to bring the dispute to the WTO for arbitration.

June 29, 2010  Taiwan and China.  Thousands took to the streets in Taipei Saturday, protesting the new Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between Taiwan and mainland China. The deal will cut tariffs on some eight hundred products. It's been hailed as the most significant political agreement between the two sides in sixty years. Yet many Taiwanese fear the agreement will flood the Taiwanese market with cheap Chinese goods and create unemployment. This rally was organized by Taiwan’s opposition party, the DPP, and protestors here are calling for a better deal - plus supervision by the World Trade Organization. "The World Trade Organization is an international forum. It has complete responsibilities and duties, like making sure the whole world is equal. If we sign a bilateral agreement with China, it will certainly not be a fair one.” Taiwan has been governed separately since the Chinese civil war in 1949. The Chinese communist regime regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has always called for unification of the two sides.

June 28, 2010  Russia.  Russia could join the World Trade Organization in 2011, the country's chief WTO negotiator stated last week, adding that talks on Russia's accession with EU members could be completed by the end of 2010. Medvedkov said the procedure takes three to four months once the negotiating process has been completed. He projects that talks on Russia's accession to the WTO would be concluded by September. Russia has been in negotiations for WTO membership for over 16 years and is the only major economy outside of the global trade body. Medvedev has admitted Russia still has problems with intellectual property rights protection, a major impediment to WTO accession, but says tackling this issue is a priority for the Russian government. In June 2009, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus notified the WTO of their intention to join the world trade club as a customs union. Four months later, the three former Soviet republics announced they would resume talks on WTO accession separately, but from synchronized positions. 

June 25, 2010  The Bahamas.  The Bahamas must comply with the World Trade Organization's Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement “in the shortest possible time frame” because the basic principles will be reiterated in all trade agreements to be signed, Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister, Lawrence S ‘Larry’ Cartwright, stated. The Economic Partnership agreement signed between the European Community and the CARIFORUM countries, he said, “Places an obligation on the Bahamas” to comply with the World Trade Organisation’s agreement on sanitary measures, he said. Too, the SPS agreement will also be included in the trade agreement between Canada and CARICOM which is being negotiated, the Minister said. Mr Cartwright was addressing a workshop on sanitary and phytosanitary measures sponsored by the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) - the two-day event included representatives from Belize, Costa Rica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas government agencies, and the private sector. Mr. Cartwright confirmed that The Bahamas is in the process of acceding to the World Trade Organization. The request for membership in 2001 was followed with the submission and circulation of the Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime in March 2009.

June 25, 2010  Belarus.  Amid the gas row with Russia and snowballing problems in talks on joining the Customs union, Minsk boosted the dialogue with the World Trade Organization. Bozkurt Aran, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the WTO, Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession of Belarus arrived to Minsk and held several meetings in the Foreign Ministry, in the “parliament”, in the Economy Ministry and with Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kabyakou. “The WTO is not a universal organization without Belarus,” Aran said at the meeting with Belarusian “parliamentarians”. He believes that Belarus should be interested in joining the WTO, as the system of trade relations in this organization is based upon legally binding documents, which means that the governments of the member states have to observe them. The WTO has enough leverages to ensure the observance of the documents. Mr Aran stated that the process of Belarus’ joining the WTO had been put off unjustifiably. It had been expected that after creation of the Customs union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan the three countries would join the WTO as one group.

June 24, 2010  G20.  The Group of 20 major economies will warn against complacency in tackling the global economic crisis and say that sickly public accounts could hit long-term growth, a draft G20 document shows. The draft version of the summit communique, drawn up ahead of a G20 leaders meeting this weekend in Toronto, reflected the different views within the G20 on how to proceed with economic policy. The draft, dated June 11, said the recovery was "uneven and fragile" with unemployment at unacceptable levels. "There is no room for complacency," it said. At the same time, it said "fiscal challenges in many states are creating market volatility, and could seriously threaten the recovery and weaken prospects for long-term growth." The United States has argued for continued stimulus spending by governments to ensure the global economic recovery does not fizzle out. Other countries, such as Germany, intend to cut spending quickly in order to bring down public debts and deficits. "Further actions are still required to address the underlying causes of the global financial crisis and promote more responsible and transparent banking sectors," it said, without spelling out further details. Reforms of banking around the world, along with ways to ensure the recovery of the global economy, are high on the agenda of this weekend's summit. The draft said the G20 would push for conclusion of a long-delayed world trade deal and would pledge to extend a commitment not to raise barriers to investment or trade for three more years, through 2013. G20 nations converge on Canada on June 26-27 as Europe fights a debt crisis and the United States battles persistently high joblessness.

June 23, 2010  World Congress.  The second ITUC World Congress was officially opened yesterday in Vancouver, Canada. More than 1400 delegates from around the world will debate the future of the trade union movement under the theme Now the People, from the crisis to global justice. With a total of 311 affiliated organizations, representing a total membership of 175 million workers from 155 countries and territories, the ITUC is, after four years of existence, incontestably the global voice of labor in this period of economic and financial crisis. The ITUC Congress will focus its debate on different themes, such as the global financial and economic crisis, and will consider resolutions on peace, youth, human and trade union rights and equality. Delegates at Congress will deal with issues related to labor’s demands for restructuring and reform of the global economy with an emphasis on themes such as workers' rights, migrant workers, climate change and HIV-AIDS.

June 22, 2010  Global trade report.  The report, by Global Trade Alert (GTA), to be issued later this week to coincide with the G20 summit in Toronto, finds that such policies in 2009 turned out much worse than was known at the time of the Pittsburgh summit last September. The report finds that nearly 650 protectionist measures implemented since the first crisis-related G20 summit in November 2008, when leaders promised to avoid protectionism, remain in place. The findings of GTA, which has consistently warned that protectionism is running at a far higher level than governments acknowledge, are not shared by all economists. The World Trade Organization (WTO), for example, says that the rules-based global trading system, and memories of the 1930s Great Depression that was partly triggered by beggar-thy-neighbor policies, have kept protectionism in check. In its own report issued last week for the G20 summit, the WTO said governments had largely resisted resorting to trade barriers. It said the number of new trade measures was falling, with new measures since November 2009 covering only 0.4 percent of global imports -- with a smaller reduction in trade of those goods. From October 2008 to October 2009, trade measures covered 1 percent of imports.

June 21, 2010  China.  Chinese trade and Internet experts have criticized Google's move to declare the country's Internet restrictions a trade barrier, saying it was another move by the Internet search engine to politicize itself. Earlier this month, a top Google executive had said that his company was working with U.S. and European officials to build a case to take to the World Trade Organization that would argue "Internet censorship" acted as a trade barrier. However, Professor Zheng Yongnian, Director of the East Asia Institute of the National University of Singapore, said that though Google's attempt to link Internet regulation with trade barriers was on the surface an economic issue, but in essence, it challenged China's domestic affairs. Zheng also said that Google was "politicizing" itself again after blaming China for the alleged hacker attack in January, Xinhua news agency reports. Tu Xinquan, Vice President of the WTO Research Center of Beijing's University of International Business and Economics, said: "China's Internet administration is not a system of trade policies; it is domestic policies formulated based on China's domestic laws and regulations. Even the WTO cannot intervene in this regard."

June 18, 2010  Brazil and U.S.  Brazil said a deal agreed to between the two countries in April aimed at heading off up to $829 million in World Trade Organization-sanctioned retaliation against U.S. goods would stay in place until a new U.S. farm bill is passed. The current U.S. farm law, which contains subsidies for U.S. cotton producers the WTO ruled were too high and therefore illegal, is set to expire on September 30, 2012. Under the deal, the United States pledged to make some short-term tweaks to its export credit guarantees and give Brazil about $147 million a year in damages for a "technical assistance" fund for cotton growers.

June 17, 2010  Trade tensions.  Anger toward China’s currency, trade and industrial policies has been steadily mounting in Congress, adding pressure on President Obama to take a tough stance with his Chinese counterparts at the Group of 20 leaders’ meeting next week in Toronto.
Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee heard from business leaders alarmed about an initiative under which Chinese government agencies would procure high-tech products — including telecommunications, software and energy-saving equipment — only from companies that use technologies developed in China. Last week, several software executives, including Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer, visited Washington to complain about technological piracy by Chinese companies. And on Tuesday and Wednesday, the United States International Trade Commission, a federal agency that investigates trade matters, held hearings on enforcement of patents and other forms of intellectual property rights in China.

June 16, 2010  WTO and WIPO.  A secret trade agreement designed to harmonize some countries' intellectual property laws could destabilize existing international agreements and harm the economic prospects of developing countries, India has said. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a secret IP treaty being negotiated by the US, Japan, the European Commission and others outside of the normal international trade bodies the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The WTO's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement created a degree of harmonisation between the laws of WTO member countries on the protections given to intellectual property. In a document submitted to the WTO last week, though, India argued that in going further than TRIPS, ACTA undermined not only the WTO and its agreements, but the very basis of some elements in developing nations' economies.

June 15, 2010  Trade meeting.  Delegations from eight Pacific nations are holding a week-long trade meeting in San Francisco, an early stage process to formulate new or revised trade agreements.  The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is also turning into a platform for special interest groups to contribute their thoughts to what the U.S. and other trade delegates should be addressing. The TPP is made up of the U.S., Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. "Only eight countries are here, so there's less complexity in the different competing agendas. So that makes it more possible that something different happens," Victor Menotti from the International Forum on Globalization said. The Pacific region is one of the most dynamic economic zones in the world, accounting for half of the globe's economic output and close to 50 percent of all trade.

June 15, 2010  Azerbaijan.  The Azerbaijani city of Mingachevir with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Agency for International Development (USAİD) held a workshop on "Azerbaijan's membership in the World Trade Organization and the private sector under a program for supporting trade and investment innovations in Azerbaijan June 10, the Ministry said. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development, the regional offices of the relevant state bodies, the USAİD, as well as entrepreneurs. Head of the Department on Foreign Trade Policy and WTO under the Ministry of Economic Development Bakhtiar Alishev informed about Azerbaijan's membership in the WTO and the works undertaken to coordinate national legislation with the WTO requirements. While speaking at the event, the representative of the program for supporting trade and investment innovations in Azerbaijan and experts informed the participants about the possible impact on Azerbaijan's membership in the WTO and support for entrepreneurs in this direction.

June 14, 2010  Japan, U.S. and Taiwan.  The World Trade Organization has decided to uphold claims from Japan, the United States and Taiwan that the European Union scrap tariffs on flat-panel displays and other information technology products, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. The WTO's dispute settlement panel has ruled in a preliminary report that the EU tariffs on the products, which also include multifunctional printers and TV set-top boxes, violate the global trade organization's Information Technology Agreement. No other details of the ruling were immediately known, they said, but added that the panel is expected to issue a final report on the dispute by the end of September after hearing opinions from member countries. EU customs authorities impose import duties of 6 to 14 per cent on the products. Trade sources said the European Union argues that the products involved are not covered by the WTO agreement, which calls for dropping tariffs on products peripheral to personal computers and most other information technology products.  The tariffs imposed on the EU-bound Japanese exports concerned with the dispute amounted to roughly $2 million as of 2008.

June 11, 2010   WTO.  Fake or substandard versions of medicines are often hidden in cargoes sent on circuitous routes to mask their country of origin. "We have more fakes than real drugs in the market," said Christophe Zimmermann, the WCO's anti-counterfeiting and piracy coordinator. "In 2007-2008 alone, it rose 596 percent." Pharmacies and back street merchants in Africa sell fake medicines at rock-bottom prices. The World Trade Organization says fake anti-malaria drugs kill 100,000 Africans a year and the black market deprives governments of 2.5-5 percent of their revenue. The Brussels-based WCO represents customs operations globally and has joined with former French president's Jacques Chirac's foundation to raise awareness at upper echelons to curtail the illicit industry. Spurred by Chirac's foundation, 176 national customs chiefs will sign a declaration on June 24 to ban the making and marketing of counterfeit drugs, Zimmermann stated. Fake medicines often contain the wrong or toxic ingredients and pose a growing health threat worldwide, especially in poor countries where drugs are sold to treat conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

June 11, 2010   CustomsReference is pleased to announce we have resumed service.