According to the Office of Textiles and Apparel, Ecuador has removed its “Balance of Payments” (BOP) safeguard measures for all textile, apparel, footwear and travel products, as it has instead imposed a system of mixed tariffs on similar products. The BOP measures were removed effective July 23, 2010.

The World Trade Organization has posted a communication from the European Union, which states that the U.S., Canada, the EU, Norway, Japan, Switzerland, China, and Macao have agreed that 718 new substances, used for the production and manufacture of finished pharmaceuticals, should be added to the list of pharmaceutical products eligible for duty-free treatment. The Members concerned will notify the WTO of the appropriate changes to be made to their schedules. It has been agreed that duty-free treatment for these substances would be implemented as soon as possible, bearing in mind the need for each Member to fulfill its domestic procedural requirements. (May have to click on source document twice for proper viewing.)

In June 2010, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria agreed to set up a free trade zone which will be based on existing bilateral agreements and practices on free trade and visa exemption between the parties. However, Turkey and Lebanon will need to complete a bilateral arrangement before the four-way process can go ahead.

The Congressional Research Service has issued a summary of Brazil's World Trade Organization case against the U.S. cotton program. The summary describes the phases of the dispute through the June 17, 2010 "Framework Agreement, " including a discussion of provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill which may still make the U.S. vulnerable to WTO challenges.

India's Minister of State for Commerce and Industry has issued a statement on India's negotiating strategy and aims for the World Trade Organization Doha Round. Its principal goals are to protect the interests of India's farmers and to protect sensitive industrial sectors from the impact of tariff reductions or bindings.

On July 30, 2010, the U.S. and India signed an agreement on arrangements and procedures under the Agreement for Cooperation Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. These procedures will facilitate participation by U.S. firms in India’s expanding civil nuclear energy sector by enabling India's reprocessing of U.S.-obligated nuclear material at a new national reprocessing facility in India. According to the U.S. embassy in India, increased civil nuclear trade with this country will create thousands of new jobs for the U.S. economy.

India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry has announced that in addition to seven Central Government Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 12 State/Private Sector SEZs set up prior to the enactment of SEZ Act, 2005, formal approval has been accorded to 576 new proposals. A total of 114 SEZs are already exporting. Among other things, SEZs are intended to promote investment from domestic and foreign sources and promote exports of goods and services. Further details about SEZs are available here.

In the August 3, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.

In the July 31, 2010 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted: