During the December 17, 2010 Transatlantic Economic Council, the European Union and the U.S. announced the launch of a new website, the TransAtlantic IPR Portal, to help EU and U.S. companies break into foreign markets and avoid intellectual property rights violations.

On December 24, 2010, Xinhua reported Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi's announcement that BRIC has accepted South Africa as a full member of the group, which currently includes Brazil, Russia, India and China. Yang said that China, as the current rotating chair of BRIC, believes South Africa's accession will promote the development of BRIC and enhance the cooperation of emerging market economies. (BRIC is a group of emerging market economies which are expected to grow faster than the G7 economies.)

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announced on December 22, 2010 that Aviation Sector Understanding negotiators from the EU, U.S., Brazil, Canada, and Japan, have agreed in principle on new terms for state financing to support the export of commercial aircraft that would move fees closer to market rates and allow for regular adjustments to reflect market developments. Formal approval is expected by January 20, 2011, with entry into force on February 1, 2011.

A Ministry of Commerce official in China stated on December 22, 2010 that China will add more items to its preferential technologies and products import catalog to boost mechanical and electrical products imports, including advanced technologies, equipment and components, and imports for production. Emerging industries and traditional equipment manufacturing will also be included in the tariff reduction catalog.

On December 21, 2010, nineteen conservation and animal welfare groups called on the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior to invoke U.S. conservation legislation, the Pelly Amendment, to impose trade sanctions against Iceland for its escalating defiance of international conservation agreements on commercial whaling. The groups identified specific Icelandic companies as potential targets for trade sanctions, which include major seafood industry players tied to Iceland’s whaling industry.

The World Trade Organization posted the following notice for December 23, 2010 (may have to click twice on source documents for proper viewing):

In the December 23, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:

The World Trade Organization posted the following notices for December 22, 2010 (may have to click twice on source documents for proper viewing):

In the December 22, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union issued the following trade-related releases on December 22, 2010: