The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 4 (some may also be given separate headlines):
Agreements on export prohibitions and restrictions, public stockpiling and cotton could be reached during agriculture talks at the 11th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires Dec. 11-14, MC11 agriculture talks chair Stephen Karau of Kenya said during a Dec. 4 meeting of the WTO Informal Committee on Agriculture, according to a Geneva trade official. But WTO members should pursue “a limited outcome in the form of a post-MC11 work program” for agriculture in the areas of domestic support, market access, and remaining issues of export competition, Karau told meeting attendees. During the previous meeting of the informal committee on Nov. 27, Singapore put forward an “information note” highlighting a proposal that would require WTO members to not impose export bans or restrictions on food purchased for non-commercial humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme. During that meeting, Singapore also replaced a prior proposal pitching a requirement for WTO members imposing export restrictions to notify 30 days in advance with a “best-endeavor” clause, the Geneva official said. “Singapore hopes the simplified text could facilitate Ministers' discussion in Buenos Aires,” the official said. The Dec. 4 meeting marks the end of the pre-MC11 Geneva process for agriculture talks.
The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:
Mexico's Diario Oficial of Dec. 1 lists trade-related notices from the Secretary of Economy as follows:
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
World Trade Organization leaders are leaning toward appointing special “facilitators” to help guide negotiating groups toward substantive progress during the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11) set for next month in Buenos Aires, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said during a formal meeting of the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee Nov. 28. “Limited progress” has been made toward reaching agreed outcomes on substantive issues that WTO members have expressed an interest in addressing during MC11, Azevedo said. “We still have a lot of issues in play for the ministerial -- many issues to deal with, in a very concentrated time period,” he said. MC11 Chair Susanna Malcorra will ultimately decide on whether to appoint “a few ‘minister facilitators’” to work with different negotiating group leaders at the conference, and “it would be reasonable” to expect such facilitators for agriculture, development, e-commerce and rules, among other areas, Azevedo said.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 29 (some may also be given separate headlines):
Chinese tariffs on many food and consumer goods will fall on Dec. 1, including a tariff drop from 12 percent to 8 percent on cheese, the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) said Nov. 27. While China is on pace to become the world’s largest cheese importer in the next few years, U.S. suppliers have recently lost market share in that nation. "USDEC recognizes that the U.S. remains at a disadvantage not only in China but in other countries when it comes to tariffs due to lack of U.S. free trade agreements,” USDEC Senior Vice President for Trade Policy Jaime Castaneda said in a statement. “We are committed to finding ways to recoup that competitive disadvantage.” The tariff drops include four Harmonized System (HS) codes applied by China that cover cheese, and two categories of products with dairy ingredients -- hydrolyzed protein formula for people with special nutritional needs (HS 2106.90.90) was lowered from 20 percent to zero, and prepackaged infant foods (HS 1901.10.90) was lowered from 15 percent to 2 percent.
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: