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.

Argentina, Brazil and Canada recently announced antidumping and countervailing duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 8.

World Trade Organization members decided on new chairpersons for the 14 subsidiary bodies reporting to the Council for Trade in Goods, the WTO announced. The new chairpersons include Turkey's Aysegul Sahinoglu Yerdes for the Committee on Anti-dumping Practices, New Zealand's James Lester for the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, Finland's Anna Vitie for the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade and Norway's Kjetil Tysdal for the Committee on Agriculture.

Argentina and Brazil recently announced antidumping duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 2. Argentina began an AD investigation on certain Chinese slide fasteners and strips and suspended through Sept. 28 its current AD measures on certain Chinese sodium benzoate. Brazil began an AD anti-circumvention inquiry on certain automotive safety glass and also is considering a request to apply its currently suspended AD measure on certain polyester textured yarn “not put up for retail sale." Brazil also recently rejected separate administrative challenges to its current AD measures on certain Chinese footwear and disposable syringes.

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body agreed to Indonesia's second bid for a dispute panel on the EU's antidumping and countervailing duties on stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from Indonesia at the May 30 DSB meeting, a Geneva-based trade official emailed reporters this week. Indonesia's first request was denied at a past DSB meeting, prompting the second bid in which the nation said it is entitled to protect its national interests.

Argentina launched a World Trade Organization dispute over U.S. antidumping measures on Argentinian oil country tubular goods.

The EU renewed its suspension of all customs duties, quotas and trade defense measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year, until June 2024, the European Council said May 25. The temporary trade liberalization measures were initially imposed to aid Ukraine's economy through Russia's invasion.

The European Commission adopted two measures May 12 that "renew, adjust and extend the scope" of existing antidumping measures on imports of high tenacity yarn of polyester from China, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. Various investigations found that revoking the measures would lead to goods being dumped into the EU, causing harm to the domestic yarn industry, DG Trade said. The commission extended the duties for another five years, increasing them to between 6.9% and 23.7%, and also applied them to an additional importer, Hailide.

The chair of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures urged all WTO members to submit missing subsidy notifications as soon as possible. Chair Sally Bardayan Rivera of Panama, during a May 2 meeting, said 88 members have yet to submit their 2021 notifications, which were due by the middle of 2021. Seventy-five members have not submitted their 2019 subsidy notifications, while 64 have yet to submit their 2017 notifications. "Eight delegations took the floor to urge members to step up their efforts and ensure both timely submission of notifications as well as complete notifications," WTO said.

India recently imposed antidumping duties on luxury vinyl tile imports from China, Taiwan and Vietnam, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported May 5. The duties, announced last month, affect certain vinyl tiles with a minimum tile thickness of 2.5 mm and a maximum tile thickness of 8 mm, and a protective layer thickness between 0.15 mm to 0.7 mm.