On 18 October 2017, the WTO announced that the WTO Committee on Government Procurement agreed on 18 October to grant observer status to Afghanistan and Brazil. The announcement said:
On 11 October 2017, the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) released a UK-EU joint letter to the WTO membership that shows progress and coordination to prepare for future trading arrangements. The DIT release stated:
On August 21, 2017, the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a request for comments in response to Section 3(e) of the Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American, which directs the Secretary of Commerce and the USTR to assess the impacts of all United States free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) on the operation of Buy American Laws, including their impacts on the implementation of domestic procurement preferences.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) held its injury hearing in the safeguard investigation into U.S. imports of solar cells and modules on Tuesday, August 15. Petitioners Suniva and SolarWorld filed for relief under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 in May 2017. The petition has generated considerable attention, so it came as no surprise that the injury hearing attracted several hundred attendees and included testimony by more than two dozen State legislators, foreign government officials and industry representatives.
On June 30, 2017, the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture published in the Federal Register a notice announcing the establishment of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017–September 30, 2018) tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for raw cane sugar and certain sugars, syrups and molasses. In FY 2018, the in-quota aggregate quantity of raw cane sugar has been set at 1,117,195 metric tons raw value (MTRV), and the FY 2018 in-quota…
On 15 June 2017, the WTO announced that WTO members and the general public are now able to directly access members’ legislation and practices related to rules of origin as a result of changes made in the WTO’s rules of origin webpage. The revised webpage also contains updated information on the current work of the WTO’s Committee on Rules of Origin.
On 16 June 2017, the WTO announced that at the request of the United States in the dispute United States – Conditional Tax Incentives for Large Civil Aircraft (DS487 – Complainant: EU), the Appellate Body Division in these appellate proceedings has authorized observation of the oral hearing by WTO members and the general public via delayed broadcast.
On June 19, 2017, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), published in the Federal Register a notice containing an updated list of quantity-based trigger levels for products which may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.
On 7 June 2017, the WTO announced that WTO members held their annual review of export subsidies and other export support policies at the Committee on Agriculture meeting on 7 June. They also exchanged information on each other’s farm policies. Canada’s dairy policies and India’s wheat stocks attracted much attention from members. The announcement stated that:
On April 29, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13796 of April 29, 2017 – Addressing Trade Agreement Violations and Abuses [published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2017]. The Executive Order (EO) states that