Ethiopia hopes to join the World Trade Organization by the 14th Ministerial Conference, which will take place in March 2026, the WTO said. During a March 19 meeting of the WTO Working Party on Ethiopia's accession, the country said "its goods offer commits the country to bound rates -- maximum tariffs -- lower than those" found in the benchmark for least developed countries for the agricultural sector.
Pakistan formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on March 20, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 94. The WTO needs 17 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.
The European Commission will delay its first wave of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. from April 1 until mid-April, commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in a statement March 20. Gill said the tariffs were delayed to "align the timing" of the EU's two sets of retaliatory actions announced last month (see 2503120042).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation fined the Russian subsidiary of British law firm Herbert Smith Freehills about $600,000 for violating U.K. sanctions on Russia. The firm was penalized for six payments it made worth over $5 million to sanctioned Russian banks Alfa-Bank JSC, PJSC Sovcombank and PJSC Sberbank.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky declared a mistrial in a case against defense contractor Quadrant Magnetics for violating export controls after the government sent the company thousands of pages of documents relevant to the case immediately prior to and during the company's trial (United States v. Quadrant Magnetics, W.D. Ky. # 3:22-00088).
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with U.K. Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds and the British prime minister's Special Adviser on Business and Investment Varun Chandra on March 18 to discuss a potential bilateral trade deal, the Commerce Department announced. The meeting follows U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to the White House last month. Lutnick expressed the Trump administration's desire for a trade deal, and Commerce said efforts to develop it "will continue to unfold over the coming days and weeks."
The U.K. amended the sanctions listing of Red Box Energy Services under its Russia sanctions regime on March 20. The entity's listing now says the company "has been involved" in the Russian energy sector instead of saying it "is involved" in the sector.
Colombia formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on March 19, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 93. The WTO needs 18 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.
The European Commission on March 19 imposed definitive antidumping duties on glass fiber yarns from China after finding that "significant Chinese overcapacity" of the yarn injured the EU industry. The duties range from 26.3% to 56.1%.
The U.S. filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 18 against an aircraft that was allegedly smuggled from the U.S. and operated to benefit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his representatives in Venezuela, in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls. The aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 900 EX plane with tail number T7-ESPRT, was seized last year in the Dominican Republic at the request of the U.S., DOJ said.