The European Union and U.S. have moved closer to each other's positions on World Trade Organization reform, panelists on a webinar agreed, but that's not to say it's going to be quick or easy to get the appellate body restarted.

CBP issued a notice in the March 10 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 55, No. 9) regarding the dates and draft agenda for the 67th Session of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Committee (HSC), which will meet virtually March 31-April 9. Among other things, the HSC issues classification decisions on the interpretation of the Harmonized System (HS) in the form of published tariff classification opinions or amendments to the Explanatory Notes. It also considers amendments to the legal text of the HS.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Patrick Kilbride said existing intellectual property rights “formed the legal and economic basis for an unprecedented level of highly successful collaborations between government, industry, academia” and non-governmental organizations, He said the Chamber supports the COVAX global initiative and removing regulatory barriers to boost distribution of COVID-19 vaccines but not a waiver of IP rights. Proposals to waive IP rights “are misguided and a distraction from the real work of reinforcing supply chains and assisting countries to procure, distribute and administer vaccines to billions of the world’s citizens. Diminishing intellectual property rights would make it more difficult to quickly develop and distribute vaccines or treatments in the future pandemics the world will face,” Kilbride said in a statement issued March 2.

The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee chairman, along with two members of the former NAFTA working group, lent their voices to a letter asking the administration to drop its opposition to a TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property waiver, requested by India and South Africa, would temporarily end patent protections for new vaccines and diagnostic tests used against COVID-19. Countries are already allowed to do compulsory licenses in the case of emergencies, but only after negotiations on compensating the company for the right to manufacture the drug failed.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was officially confirmed as the next director-general of the World Trade Organization on Feb. 15, and the U.S. charge d'affaires, David Bisbee, in Geneva said she has deep knowledge and experience in “economics, trade, and diplomacy.” He said, “Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has promised that under her leadership it will not be business as usual for the WTO, and we are excited and confident that she has the skills necessary to make good on this promise.” Myron Brilliant, vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in congratulating Okonjo-Iweala, said that “we need to restore the WTO as a forum for meaningful trade negotiations and the settlement of commercial disputes. We’re committed to doing our part to make that happen.”

While the World Trade Organization faces multiple crises, including COVID-19 vaccine export control threats and massive trade wars, the institution's Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff delivered a 10-item agenda for moving forward. Speaking Feb. 9 at a Washington International Trade Association conference, Wolff said the WTO will be judged by “how well it deals with the crises of our time,” saying it must “demonstrate soon and visibly that it can deliver on subjects relevant to all those who engage in international trade or are affected by it ... pretty much everyone.”

The World Trade Organization's General Council will meet Feb. 15 to vote on the appointment of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to be the new director-general. The withdrawal of the other finalist and the U.S. announcement that it supports her candidacy cleared the way for the vote.

The panels tasked with deciding whether Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports truly meet the national security exemption at the World Trade Organization notified WTO ambassadors that those decisions will be released no sooner than “the second half of 2021” because of delays caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple panels are considering the tariffs against various countries and the European Union. Although the panels were assigned the cases a year ago, with decisions to be made in six months or less, all the panels told Geneva officials Feb. 8 that their decisions will be released in July at the earliest.

South Korea Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee dropped her candidacy for World Trade Organization director-general, clearing a path for Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to be elected. Announcing her decision at a Feb. 5 briefing in Seoul, Yoo said it was made in coordination with the U.S. as a way to reach a consensus among WTO members on the one candidate who will lead the organization, according to a report in The Korea Herald.

Senior trade officials from 29 World Trade Organization member states called for the “swift” appointment of a new WTO director-general and the restoration of the nonfunctioning dispute settlement system (see 2012110032), during a Jan. 29 virtual ministerial meeting, according to a summary released by Guy Parmelin, president of Switzerland and host for the meeting. The officials -- representing the U.S., China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Kenya and others -- also stressed the importance of maintaining open trade during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery period.