World Trade Organization members' compliance rates with notification requirements for subsidies and countervailing duties remain "concerningly low," according to the chair of the WTO's Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. Compliance is crucial to the function of that committee, its chair, New Zealand's James Lester, said Oct. 27.
A World Trade Organization panel will review U.S. antidumping duties on oil country tubular goods from Argentina after Argentina's request for a dispute panel was granted by the Dispute Settlement Body, the WTO announced. Argentina's request was the second in its case arguing that the duties violate WTO rules and that the U.S. illegally cumulated imports in assessing injury caused by the subject imports.
Australia and China officially agreed to resolve World Trade Organization disputes over Chinese duties on Australian wine and Australian duties on Chinese wind towers, China’s Commerce Ministry said Oct. 22. The two sides “conducted friendly consultations under the WTO framework on WTO dispute” and “have reached consensus on properly resolving them,” a ministry spokesperson said, according to an unofficial translation. “We are willing to work with Australia to continue to meet each other halfway through dialogue and consultation, and jointly promote the stable and healthy development of bilateral economic and trade relations.”
The World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's Oct. 26 meeting includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of DSB recommendations on: antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Status reports also are expected from Indonesia on measures related to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products.
Australia's antidumping commission recommended against renewing the antidumping duties on wind towers from China when they expire on April 16, 2024. Issuing the findings of a sunset review of the duties on Oct. 16, the commission said that revoking the duties wouldn't cause damage to the domestic industry.
Brazil, Canada and Mexico recently announced antidumping and countervailing duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Oct. 16.
The EU's top trade official, Valdis Dombrovskis, said EU and U.S. negotiators haven't given up on their Oct. 31 deadline to address both non-market overcapacity in steel and aluminum and ways to privilege trade in cleaner metals.
The EU's decision to open a countervailing duty investigation on electric vehicle batteries from China lacks sufficient evidence and violates World Trade Organization commitments, China's Ministry of Commerce said Oct. 4, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry characterized the move as "naked protectionism."
The European Commission on Oct. 4 officially launched a countervailing duty investigation on electric vehicle batteries from China. The investigation, previewed in September by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (see 2309140009), will focus on whether the battery value chains in China benefit from "illegal subsidization," and, if so, whether these subsidies cause or threaten economic injury to EU manufacturers, the commission said. If both are true, the commission said, it will determine if it is in the bloc's interest to remedy the subsidies via duties. The commission said that, per World Trade Organization rules, it carried out pre-initiation consultations with the Chinese government. The commission said the investigation will take a maximum of 13 months, and anti-subsidy duties may be taken nine months after initiation.
The U.K. suspended its collection of antidumping duties on ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China for exporter Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics Co. after conducting an additional exporter review. The suspension takes effect Sept. 21 and excludes "ceramic condiment or spice mills and their ceramic grinding parts, ceramic coffee mills, ceramic knife sharpeners, ceramic sharpeners, ceramic kitchen tools to be used for cutting, grinding, grating, slicing, scraping and peeling, and cordierite ceramic pizza-stones of a kind used for baking pizza or bread."