The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:​​

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Information Technology Industry Council and 25 other trade groups, including groups from Africa, Asia, South America and Europe, have issued a position paper on what they'd like to see in the plurilateral E-Commerce Agreement at the World Trade Organization. The U.S. and China are both in these talks, and some are concerned that China will oppose what business groups describe as high-standard planks, such as prohibiting data localization and no restrictions on cross-border data flows.

The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:​​

India blocked a first request from the U.S. for the World Trade Organization to form a panel to judge whether the hike in tariffs that India instituted because of the U.S. tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum breaks the rules. The panel is automatically convened after a second request. India delayed retaliating for the Section 232 tariffs for many months, but put them in place after the U.S. removed India from the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.

Canada's minister of international trade diversification said that Canada will ask for consultations at the World Trade Organization over discrimination against Canadian canola oil imports in China. Minister Jim Carr made the statement Sept. 6, saying Canada has a "robust food inspection system."

World leaders should commit to pushing the World Trade Organization toward declaring permanent a moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, a tech industry coalition told member countries attending the G-7 Leaders’ Summit this month. The Internet Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, ACT | The App Association, BA | The Software Alliance, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and various Japanese trade groups signed the letter. The group also called on the G-7 leaders to "continue to expand participation in WTO agreements, such as the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and Information Technology Agreement (IA)."

A World Trade Organization arbitrator will review Korea's request to impose tariffs on $350 million worth of U.S. imports because Korea claims the U.S. did not comply with a WTO ruling on antidumping for oil country tubular goods (see 1711140008). The U.S. said Aug. 9 that the level of retaliation is too high. Korea lost most of its claims in the original 2014 case, and the Commerce Department said it complied with the findings regarding profit determinations.

The U.S. lost its appeal of a 2018 World Trade Organization decision that it had not properly calculated countervailing duties for Chinese pipes, tubular goods, solar panels, aluminum extrusions and other items. China had originally challenged the cases in 2016 -- the cases were brought between 2007 and 2012 (see 1805010071). The earlier ruling held that the U.S. was right to say that Chinese state-owned enterprises count as "public bodies" and therefore their actions can be market distorting. The appeal upheld that element of the case, but also upheld the victories for China. The WTO said that Commerce did not prove specificity in the subsidies for the products, and it also could not show how the SOE inputs distorted market prices. It was not allowed to use other countries' prices as reference points to prove market distortions, the WTO said, unless it had specific evidence that government interference in the market warranted that. The appeal said that countries' ability to use other countries' prices in CVD cases is "very limited."

China and the U.S. have agreed that China has until the end of the year to come into compliance with a World Trade Organization panel ruling on how it administers its tariff rate quotas for wheat, corn and rice. The WTO said that the fact that state-trading enterprises are given specific shares of the lower-duty import quotas, but that those enterprises don't always use all of the quotas nor is the unused portion reallocated to other buyers, means that China restrains the filling of its tariff rate quotas. The notice that the two countries agreed on a compliance timeline was circulated at the WTO on July 4.

The World Trade Organization published on July 2 its update to tariff and non-tariff measures imposed by more than 170 countries and customs territories. The publication also provides statistics about exports. For example, the European Union is the top destination for American industrial exports, and 22 percent of those exports are duty free. Those exports account for two-thirds of the value of exports from the U.S. to the EU. Japan is the fourth-largest export market for U.S. agriculture, and the average Most Favored Nation tariff for those exports is 23 percent. About two-thirds of ag exports to Japan from the U.S. face duties.