Former U.S. trade representative Bob Zoellick laughed when a webinar moderator asked him how a pro-free-trade consensus can be re-established. Zoellick was on a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webinar about the future of the global trading system with European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan June 30. He said those who support free trade have always had a fight, because politics often align with protecting domestic producers from import competition.

The U.S. said that it has received no details on changes to subsidized loans for Airbus from France and Spain, so “no one can take seriously” that the changes addressed the entirety of the World Trade Organization decision that the subsidies distorted the market. The U.S. made the comments at a Dispute Settlement Committee in Geneva July 29, a Geneva trade official said. The U.S. representative also said the European Union didn't address the other six measures the WTO identified as distorting. The EU had said last week that the changes resolved the case, so the 15% tariffs on Airbus planes and 25% tariffs on other EU exports should be removed immediately (see 2007240057).

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a long-time development economist and former finance and foreign minister in Nigeria, said that bringing back the appellate function at the World Trade Organization would be a top priority if she were chosen as the next director-general of the WTO. “You cannot have a rules-making organization where you do not have a forum where you can arbitrate disputes,” she told the Washington International Trade Association during a webinar July 21.

Former U.S. trade representatives Carla Hills, Susan Schwab and Michael Froman said the next director-general of the World Trade Organization will have an uphill climb to achieve changes they all believe are needed at the institution. The three spoke during a Washington International Trade Association webinar July 16. Froman said the fundamental problem is “a lack of global consensus around trade. And there’s a lack of political will to get things done.”

The Chinese ambassador to the World Trade Organization, Zhang Xiangchen, said his country is willing to discuss the effects of industrial subsidies on trade -- a topic he called contentious and complex -- but he rejected the outlines of an approach the European Union, the U.S. and Japan agreed to in trilateral statements (see 1901090063).

Jesus Seade, who led the USMCA negotiations on behalf of the president-elect in Mexico in 2018, said that while the World Trade Organization is a member-driven organization, the director-general should be more than just a facilitator, especially since the body is in crisis.

Canada complained at the World Trade Organization that the U.S. has neither proposed a period of time to comply with the ruling on supercalendered paper, nor said whether it will comply with the Dispute Settlement Body ruling at all (see 2002060059). So, as it did in April, Canada is asking for the right to retaliate for the damage done. The complaint was part of the regular Dispute Settlement Body meeting in Geneva on June 29.

The World Trade Organization arbitrator will not announce a decision on the size of retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. over Boeing subsidies until the fall, according to Reuters, citing unnamed sources. The U.S. has already imposed tariffs on European food, beverages, aircraft parts and a few other products, because a WTO arbitrator said the European Union had not come into compliance with a decision that said it gave too-large subsidies to Airbus. The decision had been expected in May or June, and EU officials were hoping that if they were granted the right to retaliate, that would convince the U.S. to negotiate a civil aviation settlement that would lift the U.S. tariffs. Instead, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is talking about adding more products to its 25% tariff list (see 2006240017).

The European Union is talking about including a carbon tax on imports as it comes out of the COVID-19-driven recession, and Russia, the U.S. and China asked about these plans at a World Trade Organization meeting June 8, wondering if such a tariff could be levied within the WTO rules. Russia asked what sectors would be subject to the tax, and why, and asked if the EU is hoping to protect the steel industry under the pretext of fighting climate change.

Panelists talking about the future of the World Trade Organization are picturing a world in which the U.S. and China continue to argue about the issues of industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises while other countries ally at the WTO to work on notifications, a binding dispute settlement process and how to share a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus around the globe.