The European Union launched a case at the World Trade Organization over China's allegedly discriminatory practices against Lithuania, which the EU claims are also affecting other exporters from the European trading bloc, the European Commission said. China's restrictions on Lithuania stem from the country's support for Taiwan. In November 2020, Lithuania's ruling coalition agreed to support "those fighting for freedom" in Taiwan. China's response included a refusal to clear goods from Lithuania through customs, rejection of Lithuanian import applications and a campaign to get non-Lithuanian EU companies to remove Lithuanian inputs from their supply chains when sending goods to China (see 2112090012). While the commission also implemented a proposal for an anti-coercion instrument to help respond to China's restrictive measures, it has now also requested consultations with China at the WTO over the restrictions.

An arbitrator at the World Trade Organization in a Jan. 26 report found that China can implement countermeasures on goods from the U.S. up to $645.12 million annually due to U.S. violations of WTO obligations in a variety of countervailing duty proceedings. The arbitrator looked at 10 CVD matters and determined that the total level of "nullification and impairment" China suffered as a result of the U.S.'s "WTO-inconsistent methodologies" in these proceedings exceeded $645 million per year. The CVD matters concern pressure pipe, line pipe, kitchen shelving, oil country tubular goods (OCTG), wire strand, seamless pipe, print graphics, aluminum extrusions, steel cylinders and solar panels. The only nonredacted level of N/I for the CVD proceedings included $365.37 million for OCTG and $20.65 million for solar panels. China can now ask the Dispute Settlement Body for authorization "to suspend concessions or other obligations at a level not exceeding" $645.121 million per year.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said countries need to find "pragmatic solutions to increase vaccine production," during a Jan. 21 video call with 30 other trade ministers from the European Union, China, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Jamaica, the United Kingdom and other countries. The World Trade Organization has been struggling to agree on how trade laws could be eased to increase distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to developing countries. Tai's readout of the call also said there's an opportunity to reach a conclusion to the fisheries subsidies negotiations, but she wants there to be "an ambitious agreement that improves the status quo." She also said the WTO needs to tackle agriculture issues.

The European Union requested consultations at the World Trade Organization with Russia over its export restrictions on wood products, the European Commission said in a Jan. 20 news release. The protectionist measures include upping export duties on certain wood products and limiting wood exports to only one border crossing point. If consultations fall through, the EU can request a dispute settlement panel. The EU is alleging that these two steps run contrary to Russia's WTO commitments. For instance, Russia pledged to keep a maximum duty rate for certain quantities of exports at 13% or 15%, and then withdrew the tariff rate quotas and applied export duties of 80%, the commission said. The commission further said that by restricting the border crossing points for wood exports to one -- Luttya in Finland -- Russia violated a WTO rule that forbids action that inhibits the use of existing border crossing points that are technically capable of handling such exports.

India will appeal a World Trade Organization panel's reports that support cases brought by sugarcane producers, to the Dispute Settlement Body, the WTO said. Brazil, Australia and Guatemala brought the initial cases, which resulted in a panel report finding that India was not acting in line with its agricultural commitments. In the Dec. 14 panel reports, the WTO said that for five consecutive sugar seasons, India gave nonexempt product-specific domestic support to producers in excess of the permitted 10% level of the total value of sugarcane production via three assistance programs (see 2112140081). India's appeal will fall on deaf ears, however, since the U.S. has routinely blocked efforts to fill the vacancies on the Appellate Body, precluding the possibility of an appeal at the Appellate Body.

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body agreed to set up two new dispute panels to examine Russian measures disrupting EU access to procurement by state-related entities and the Dominican Republic's antidumping duties on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica, the WTO said. The panels were agreed to at the Dec. 20 meeting of the DSB. The EU requested the panel over Russia's procurement measures, while Costa Rica requested the panel over the Dominican Republic's antidumping duties. The EU's panel request was the second attempt after Russia blocked its first request in November. While stating its regrets that the EU decided to further pursue the establishment of a panel, Russia said that it is confident its measures fully comply with the WTO's regulations. The same is true of Costa Rica's panel request, as its first bid was thwarted by the Dominican Republic.

World merchandise trade dipped 0.8% in the third quarter of 2021 following four straight quarters of expansion, the World Trade Organization said, pointing to supply chain disruptions, with imports in North America and Europe weaker than forecast; production input shortages, in particular semiconductor shortages; and rising COVID-19 cases as the omicron variant recently emerged, as the causes. Trade volume was up 11.9% year-to-date through September, although this was slightly lower than the WTO's most recent trade forecast, the trade organization said. With export and import prices rising sharply, the value of world merchandise climbed 24% year-on-year in the third quarter. This boost was fueled by primary commodities including fuels, which saw prices double from the third quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2021, the WTO said.

The U.S. will not appeal a recent World Trade Organization dispute settlement body ruling which found that its countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain violated WTO rules, the U.S. said at the Dec. 20 meeting of the DSB. A panel at the DSB found that the U.S. erred when finding that subsidies given to Spanish raw olive growers under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy were specific to the olive growers, a finding that was inconsistent with measures in the WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (see 2111190028). The U.S., in its comments to the body, said that it will permit the report to be adopted despite expressing being "disappointed" with a few of the panel's findings.

The UK Trade Policy Observatory penned a new report laying out steps the UK can take to deliver plurilateral trade agreements at the World Trade Organization. The Department for International Trade-commissioned paper discusses the current state of play with plurilaterals and how to harness the potential of such groups, while concluding with a set of recommendations. The report points out how plurilaterals are a clear way to revitalize negotiations at the WTO, but that "scheduling is not first-best" for new plurilaterals that address issues not covered by the WTO. "A work programme in the WTO to define rules/criteria/procedures on how such OPAs can be annexed to the WTO will increase the prospects that WTO Members will be willing to pursue plurilateral co-operation inside -- as opposed to outside -- the WTO," the report said.

Ministers from Australia, Japan and Singapore noted substantial progress made in the e-commerce initiative at the World Trade Organization in a Dec. 14 statement. Australia’s Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Koichi Hagiuda, and Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong represent the co-convenors of the WTO e-commerce negotiations.