The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the next meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, set for Dec. 20. The agenda includes status reports by the U.S. 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.

The World Trade Organization found that India is not acting in line with its agricultural commitments, three Dec. 14 panel reports concluded. The panels, which surveyed claims from Brazil, Australia and Guatemala into India's domestic support to sugarcane producers, found that for five consecutive sugar seasons, India gave non-exempt product-specific domestic support to these producers in excess of the permitted 10% level of the total value of sugarcane production. In all three claims, the WTO panel found that India was providing subsidies that run contrary to its WTO obligations via the Production Assistance, the Buffer Stock, and the Marketing and Transportation schemes, and that these schemes are contingent on export performance. With respect to Australia's claims, the panel also found that India's Duty Free Import Authorisation schemes are subsidies contingent on export performance and thus in violation of WTO commitments. The panel, in each case, recommended that India "withdraw its prohibited subsidies under the Production Assistance, the Buffer Stock, the Marketing and Transportation, and the DFIA Schemes within 120 days from the adoption of our Report."

China has told multinational corporations to break off ties with Lithuania or risk being shut out of the Chinese market, Reuters reported Dec. 9. The escalation comes after Lithuania's ruling coalition agreed in November 2020 to support "those fighting for freedom" in Taiwan, publicly challenging China's claim to the island nation. Further, the European Union noted that Lithuanian shipments are not being cleared through Chinese customs and that import applications from Lithuania are being rejected.

The delegation from Timor-Leste has continued to hold bilateral meetings with World Trade Organization members regarding its accession to the multilateral trade organization despite the postponement of the 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. The delegation, led by Joaquim Amaral, coordinating minister for economic affairs and WTO accession chief negotiator, met Nov. 27-Dec. 4, and also participated in roundtable discussions about Timor-Leste's prospect of accession to the WTO. The country's goal is to wrap up the final negotiations by the end of 2022, the WTO said. Amaral also gave updates on preparations for the Working Party's third meeting on accession, emphasizing the need for technical assistance and capacity building ahead of his country's accession. The Southeast Asian nation applied for WTO membership in November 2016.

The World Trade Organization's Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises launched its Trade4MSMEs platform Dec. 2 in a bid to help small companies find "trade-related information that improves their ability to trade internationally," the WTO said. The platform includes guides that give trading firms the key information needed before exporting or importing goods or services, and also provides a list of all the import and export forms needed in various markets, the WTO said. The new tool also will be useful for policymakers and government researchers, as it highlights the best practices and key issues for MSMEs, the WTO said.

Sixty-seven World Trade Organization members concluded negotiations to simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations in services trade, the WTO announced after a Dec. 2 meeting of the Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation (DR JSI). The negotiated text will seek to cut administrative costs in services trade and create a more streamlined environment in which service providers can do business in foreign markets. The development received immediate praise from the major players at the WTO, including the U.S. and the European Union.

World Trade Organization members heard two requests for dispute panels at the Nov. 29 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, the WTO said. The European Union sought a panel over Russian state-owned entities' procurement practices, and Costa Rica requested a panel over the Dominican Republic's antidumping duties on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica.

A California table olive industry trade association declared victory over a recent World Trade Organization challenge to U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain following the WTO's ruling, declaring that the trade organization gave "the outcome of which will enable the U.S. Government to continue effectively enforcing the U.S. olive trade remedy cases," it said in an emailed press release Nov. 30. Despite the WTO panel's finding that some aspects of U.S. countervailing duties violate WTO rules (see 2111190028), the Olive Growers Council of California said the WTO ruling was a win for the California olive growers, and that the antidumping and countervailing duties will help the growers stabilize and rebuild.

After postponing its 12th Ministerial Conference, which was set to start Nov. 30, due to new COVID-19 travel restrictions, the World Trade Organization is now aiming to hold the meeting in person during the first week of March. The WTO delayed the ministerial after Switzerland -- the intended site of the conference -- banned flights from many southern African nations, in response to new information about the Omicron variation of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 found in that region. In its Nov. 29 statement, the WTO emphasized the need for continued negotiations on key issues such as fisheries subsidies and the intellectual property waiver for any COVID-19 vaccines. Trade experts have speculated that the postponement of MC12 will likely mean a slowdown in negotiations on those topics (see 2111290035).

Turkmenistan officially submitted an application to join the World Trade Organization, the WTO said Nov. 24. The Central Asian country requested that the application be considered at the upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference, to be held Nov. 30-Dec. 3. Atageldi Haljanov, Turkmenistan's ambassador to the United Nations, after meeting with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that the decision was backed by his country's president and "driven by Turkmenistan's strong desire to integrate into world trade and diversify its economy through WTO accession." The country set up a commission in 2013 to study the effects of WTO membership. Turkmenistan would be the last former Soviet republic to join the WTO. The release said Turkmenistan's natural resources include oil and natural gas.