Doha Round - Latest News Statements

Several ambassadors to the World Trade Organization are warning that the body is at a watershed moment and members must act to reform the multilateral system or else it may collapse, but told Inside U.S. Trade that their views are not shared universally. “We have entered a new period. We cannot do business as usual,” one ambassador said. “Some members at least understand that there is a real danger that everything collapses. This is something that is felt by...

The United States this week set out its expectations for provisions the World Trade Organization should develop on e-commerce, including permanent bans on duties on electronic transmissions, forced technology transfers and discriminatory technology requirements. In a communication to other WTO members , the U.S. outlined its visions for a work program on e-commerce. The statements stem from a commitment the U.S. and 76 other WTO members made at the Buenos Aires ministerial last December to “initiate exploratory work together toward...

In the first major development on investment facilitation since a group of World Trade Organization members agreed to move forward with talks at the WTO’s 11th ministerial last December, Brazil last week proposed a structure for discussions that envisions the participation of all WTO members. At the ministerial in Buenos Aires, 70 members signed a joint statement agreeing to move forward with negotiations on investment facilitation “with the aim of developing a multilateral framework.” The joint statement was issued in...

While the World Trade Organization's 11th ministerial ended without any substantive negotiated outcomes -- not an unprecedented occurrence for such events -- some advocates of the global trading system are holding out hope that the series of joint statements that members signed in Buenos Aires could effectively reinvigorate the WTO's negotiating arm. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative called MC11 a “successful” ministerial at the same time it declared the new direction of the WTO was a focus on...

BUENOS AIRES -- Just after the close of the 11th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference here, the U.S. declared that the path forward for the WTO lies in “sectoral agreements by like-minded countries.” “The new direction of the WTO is set: improving trade through sectoral agreements by like-minded countries,” USTR said in a tweet posted minutes after the ministerial officially closed without concrete multilateral outcomes, though groups of countries did agree to explore negotiating rules on issues such as e-commerce,...

BUENOS AIRES -- World Trade Organization members have struck an 11th-hour deal to renew a moratorium on e-commerce duties as well as a moratorium that prevents members from bringing non-violation cases under the WTO’s intellectual property agreement, sources said. Renewing the e-commerce moratorium was a priority for U.S. businesses. The U.S. had pushed back against renewing the moratorium for non-violation cases under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, but has agreed to extend it as long as the...

BUENOS AIRES – The World Trade Organization’s 11th ministerial is expected to close without the issuance of a ministerial declaration after the U.S. and India locked horns over whether to include a reference to the Doha Development Agenda, sources here said. India pushed for a reference to the Doha round, which the U.S. rejected, sources said. A version of the draft declaration prepared by MC11 chair Susana Malcorra cited two paragraphs from the 2015 Nairobi ministerial declaration that spelled out...