Talks to reform the World Trade Organization and extend a moratorium to not impose customs duties on electronic transmissions such as digital downloads entered their final day on Sunday with no breakthrough yet in sight, diplomats said. Trade ministers are working at a WTO meeting in Cameroon to close the gap between the United States […]
WTO
WTO introduces world’s first baseline digital trade rules
A group of World Trade Organization members agreed on Saturday to sidestep adoption hurdles for the world’s first baseline on digital trade rules, opting to bring the agreement into force among consenting participants, the WTO said. In recent years, efforts by a group of countries to fold the E-Commerce Agreement into the WTO rulebook were […]
Trump Admits 100% Tariff on China “Not Sustainable”
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday admitted that his proposed 100% tariff on Chinese imports would not be economically sustainable, but insisted Beijing’s actions forced Washington into the latest trade escalation. “It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network, when asked about the […]
China challenges Australia anti-dumping measures at WTO: govt
China said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization challenging Australia’s anti-dumping measures on a range of goods, marking further escalation in tensions between the two countries. The suit — regarding Chinese exports of train wheels, wind turbines and stainless steel sinks — comes a week after Canberra challenged Beijing’s […]
Japan: G20 summit to debate trade including WTO reform
Substantial discussions on trade, including reform of the World Trade Organization, will likely take place at a summit of Group of 20 major economies next week in Osaka, a senior Japanese finance ministry official said on Wednesday. Japan, which chairs this year’s G20 gatherings, will take a neutral stance in the US-China trade row and […]
US proposes new tariffs on EU products over Airbus subsidies
The US on Monday threatened to impose tariff counter-measures of up to $11.2 billion on a host of European products in response to subsidies received by aircraft maker Airbus. For more than 14 years, Washington and Brussels have accused each other of unfairly subsidizing Boeing and Airbus, respectively, in a tit-for-tat dispute. In a statement […]
Global tensions to force trade slowdown in 2019: WTO
Global trade growth is expected to be lower in 2019 than it was last year, the World Trade Organization forecast on Tuesday, citing widespread “tensions” and economic uncertainty. The WTO had in its preliminary estimates predicted a 3.7 percent expansion of trade for this year, but has revised that down to 2.6 percent, marking a […]
75 countries launch WTO e-commerce talks
Ministers from 75 countries launched talks towards drawing up global e-commerce rules amid growing calls for technology to be more closely regulated internationally. The talks were announced by the EU’s top trade official, Cecilia Malmstrom, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and are to include the US and China, the world’s […]