A World Trade Organization dispute panel suspended its consideration of Russia's complaint against U.S. antidumping duties on steel and aluminum products at Russia's request, the WTO announced. The panel said that after reviewing Russia's comments and U.S. opposition, it decided to temporarily stop its work on the dispute. Per WTO rules, the panel cannot halt the work for more than 12 months.

The World Trade Organization is responsible for too many agreements, leading to fracturing coalitions and insufficient oversight, University of Arizona law professor Bashar Malkawi said in an International Economic Law and Policy Blog guest post. For the trade body to "survive as a meaningful entity," member nations should be willing to largely ditch the "consensus style of negotiations and agreements" and embrace a system operating largely under majority or super-majority votes, Malkawi suggested.

China formally accepted the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies June 27. The deal, struck at the 12th Ministerial Conference and requiring a two-thirds majority for ratification, imposes rules to crack down on subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Japan, Australia and Singapore, co-conveners of the e-commerce talks at the World Trade Organization, recently urged delegates to consider how the initiative can achieve results by the end of the year, the WTO said June 22. Facilitators of small group discussions noted progress on finding "landing zones on text proposals in areas such as cryptography, source code, privacy, 'single windows,' telecommunications, and data flows and data localisation," the WTO said. Other sessions held at the meeting included talks on general and security exceptions, digital inclusion and development and implementation.

World Trade Organization members held an informal talk June 16 on efforts to revise the global trade body's "deliberative functions." Members discussed the WTO's General Council, Trade Negotiations Committee, the "conduct of Ministerial Conferences" and generating greater member participation in WTO bodies. Members also discussed "other trade-related matters," "effective oversight and decision-making" in the Ministerial Conference and the General Council, and ways to ensure the Trade Negotiations Committee "effectively plays its supervising role for the overall conduct of the negotiations." Botswana's Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme, who chairs the General Council, said she is considering holding consultations before the next General Council meeting set for July 24-25 to finalize an "emerging roadmap for MC13 on the deliberative function." MC13, the 13th Ministerial Conference, is set for February 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

A dispute panel at the World Trade Organization ruled this week that China's antidumping duties on stainless steel products from Japan violated global trade commitments. The ruling held a mix of findings for and against Japan's claims, leading each side to claim some form of victory.

Belize formally adopted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, becoming the 10th country and first Central American country to do so, the WTO announced. A two-thirds majority is needed for the fisheries deal to come into effect. The WTO said Belize's agreement builds on the goals set from a recent meeting between Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno. "This agreement holds paramount importance for Belize, given its reliance on marine exports and tourism," Okonjo-Iweala said. "By supporting the elimination worldwide of harmful fisheries subsidies, Belize sends a strong signal to the international community that it is committed to preserving the health and productivity of the oceans, promoting economic growth, and enhancing livelihoods dependent on the marine sector.”

World Trade Organization members agreed to the EU's and India's joint request to give the Dispute Settlement Body more time to consider adopting a panel ruling on India's tariff treatment of information and communications technology products. At the June 15 meeting of the DSB, members agreed to give the DSB until Sept. 19 to adopt the report unless the EU or India appeals the findings or the DSB decides not to adopt the panel ruling, the WTO said. The panel in April found that India's tariffs violated the nation's WTO tariff commitments under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and Article II of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (see 2304170018).

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body's June 15 meeting will focus on a joint request by the EU and India for a decision on India's tariff treatment of information and communications technology products, according to the agenda. A dispute panel released its report on this spat in April, finding that India's tariffs violated the nation's WTO tariff commitments under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and Article II of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (see 2304170018).

The World Trade Organization is steadily headed towards irrelevancy to global trade and is facing a "long, slow sunset," said Peter Harrell, former senior director for international economics and competitiveness at the White House, during remarks at the Georgetown International Trade Update on June 13.