World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said a mix of factors will continue to dog the health of international trade and the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to Bloomberg News this week at the Africa Adaptation Summit in the Netherlands, Okonjo-Iweala said Russia's war in Ukraine, bottlenecks plaguing shipping routes, China's "Covid Zero" pandemic-fighting measures and extreme weather events present great challenges to the recovery.

Argentina has requested dispute consultations with Peru at the World Trade Organization over Peru's antidumping and countervailing duties on biodiesel from Argentina, the WTO announced. Argentina is contesting six measures imposed by Peru: 1) the original CVD investigation, 2) the original AD investigation, 3) the CVD changed circumstances review, 4) the AD changed circumstances review, 5) the CVD sunset review, and 6) the AD sunset review.

Appeals at the World Trade Organization do not have to "go into the 'void,'" even though the Appellate Body has gone the way of Seeso and the dodo bird, Simon Lester, former legal affairs officer at the WTO's Appellate Body, said in a blog post. Instead, Lester put forth another option: the WTO member party to the dispute could put the dispute panel report on the WTO Dispute Settlement Body agenda for adoption after the 90-day appellate period has run its course. This route would read the WTO's rules to find that the appeal has been completed.

The work of a dispute panel at the World Trade Organization looking into a Chinese measure concerning the import of canola seed from Canada has been suspended at Canada's request, according to a Sept.1 communication from the panel.

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that they do not want the World Trade Organization Appellate Body to be resurrected. The WTO no longer has binding dispute settlement, because members can appeal into the void if they do not like the results of a case in Geneva.

Turkey will begin to implement rulings from a World Trade Organization dispute panel and arbitrators' finding that certain Turkish measures over the production, importation and marketing of pharmaceutical products weren't in line with WTO rules, the WTO said Aug. 29. Giving an update of the proceeding at the Aug. 29 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, Turkey said it has begun to look at options for implementing the rulings but said it needs a "reasonable period of time to ensure implementation."

The European Commission will implement the findings of the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body on the EU's safeguard measures on imports of certain steel products, the EC said Aug. 24. The commission said it will bring its safeguard measure into conformity with the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, inviting comments from interested parties by Sept. 14.

The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the Aug. 29 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body. It includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of recommendations adopted by the DSB 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. A status report also is expected from Indonesia on measures relating to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products. Turkey will report on the implementation of the DSB's recommendations on its measures on the production, importation and marketing of pharmaceutical products.

A day before the House is expected to pass a bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, that includes electric vehicle tax credits with strings attached for sourcing and assembly, activists and analysts are reacting to European Union's argument that the EV tax credit violates World Trade Organization rules.

South Africa requested World Trade Organization dispute consultations with the EU over certain import restrictions imposed by the EU on South African citrus fruit, the WTO said. The EU measures are phytosanitary requirements concerning oranges and other citrus products related to the Thaumatotibia leucotreta pest, known as the false codling moth. In its consultation, South Africa claimed the EU measures are inconsistent with various parts of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. South Africa characterized the changes as "abrupt and radical," in that they now require cold treatment processes and precooling steps for specific periods for the citrus before it is imported.