On 16 July 2015, the European Commission announced that the EU and Liberia had signed a deal concluding their bilateral negotiations on Liberia’s accession to the WTO. The announcement said that accession to the WTO is expected to make a lasting contribution to the process of economic reform and sustainable development in Liberia. The announcement said that: The bilateral deal – signed by EU Ambassador to the WTO Angelos Pangratis and Liberia’s Minister for Commerce…
On 18 July 2015, the WTO reported that negotiators from 54 WTO members edged close to agreement on an accord which would expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and eliminate tariffs on an additional list of roughly 200 products valued at about $1 trillion in annual trade. The products covered by the extension include new generation semi-conductors, GPS navigation equipment and medical equipment, including magnetic resonance imaging products and ultra-sonic scanning apparatus. The WTO release…
On 3 June 2015, the WTO announced that Australia has formally launched its bid to join the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), underlining its commitment to work towards timely accession to the pact. The announcement was made at a 3 June meeting of the Committee on Government Procurement where progress was also reported on the accession bids of several pending applicants. Australia said it planned to submit an initial market access offer for GPA accession…
On June 4, 2015, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada announced that the Hon. Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, and the Hon. Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, jointly with Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, and Enrique Martínez y Martínez, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, issued the following statement on the two countries’ next steps at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States’ country of origin labelling (COOL) measure: On…
On 8 May 2015, the WTO reported that at the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) Committee meeting on 8 May many participants said that the negotiations for expanding the ITA coverage came close to conclusion last December, and urged swift conclusion to the negotiations. The following is from the WTO news release: The European Union said that the basis for inclusion of products in the ITA 2 list is consensus, and urged the participants concerned to…
On January 27, 2015, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice advising that USTR, on behalf of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), is seeking public comment regarding U.S. interests and priorities with respect to this initiative to invite Iceland to join the WTO Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) negotiations. On March 21, 2014, USTR notified Congress of the Administration’s intention to enter into negotiations for an EGA…
On January 23, 2015, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that USTR Michael Froman formally delivered the United States’ letter of acceptance of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to the WTO Director-General Azevêdo. The TFA is part of the Bali package — the first multilateral agreement to be adopted by the WTO in 20 years. The U.S. joins Hong Kong and Singapore, which had previously notified the WTO of their acceptance…
On December 16, 2014, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a request for comments regarding U.S. interests and priorities with respect to this initiative to invite Israel and Turkey to join the Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations. On March 21, 2014, USTR notified Congress of the Administration’s intention to enter into negotiations for a World Trade Organization (WTO) Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) with an initial group of 13…
On 12 December 2014, the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) negotiators failed to reach agreement over coverage. Although many countries reportedly were very flexible, the final deadlock appeared to involve liquid crystal display (LCD) screens. According to news reports, China wanted all parties to accept the terms that it had worked out with U.S. negotiators which allowed the previously deadlocked talks to resume. Those terms excluded LCDs from coverage. However, according to the reports, S.…