Benin and Sierra Leone formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies July 19, bringing to 80 the number of countries that have accepted the deal. The WTO requires 30 more formal acceptances to reach the two-thirds of membership threshold needed for the agreement to be able to enter into force.

Trade ministers from the U.S., the EU, France, Italy, the U.K., Canada, Germany and Japan reiterated that they are committed to revising the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement, monitoring and negotiating functions, and to restoring a fully functioning dispute settlement system by year-end.

World Trade Organization members at the July 10 meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights discussed "arrangements for reviewing implementation of the TRIPS Agreement," the WTO announced.

The World Trade Organization released its latest Trade Monitoring Update July 8, showing that WTO members have introduced more trade-facilitating measures than trade-restricting ones on goods from mid-October to mid-May. The update also shows a "rapid increase in industrial policy subsidies," especially in areas related to climate change and national security, the WTO said.

World Trade Organization members attending the June 25-28 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee meeting discussed 21 proposals for the sixth review of the operation and implementation of the WTO Agreement on the Application of SPM. The proposal covered topics such as "addressing modern challenges and emerging risks, voluntary third-party assurance programmes, regionalization, technology, transparency, and maximum residue levels," the WTO said.

Kazakhstan formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies July 1, bringing to 78 the number of countries that have accepted the deal. The WTO requires 32 more to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for the agreement to be able to enter into force.

The EU extended its steel safeguard measure until June 30, 2026, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced. The measure imposes tariff rate quotas "above which a 25% duty is levied on imports." The TRQs were imposed in response to the U.S. Section 232 measures.

The World Trade Organization's Committee on Trade and Environment during its June 19 meeting agreed to center upcoming "thematic sessions" on "trade-related climate measures, technology transfer, and sustainable agriculture," the WTO announced. The selection of the three themes were made in light of Trade and Environment Week, which the committee chair confirmed will take place Oct. 7-11. The environment week will feature a thematic session and "other events," the WTO said.

South Africa requested the establishment of two dispute panels to review EU restrictions on South African citrus fruit at the June 24 Dispute Settlement Body, marking the first time South Africa has used the dispute settlement system, the World Trade Organization announced. The measures are import restrictions to control the spread of the false coding moth and a fungus called the "citrus black spot."

Mauritius' Usha Dwarka-Canabady, facilitator of the WTO's dispute settlement reform talks, briefed WTO members on June 20 regarding the start of the formal negotiations process, the WTO announced. Dwarka-Canabady said that after she presented the "work plan on the dispute settlement reform process," members backed the idea of focusing first on appeals and reviews of dispute settlement decisions, then pivoting to the entire package and other issues.