During the fourth in a series of "Fish Weeks," World Trade Organization talks on the second wave of fisheries subsidies negotiations, members increased their sense of "urgency" ahead of the text-based talks set to occur at the 13th Ministerial Conference in February, the WTO said. Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, who chaired the July 10-14 meetings, said members' "came to this week with deepened reflections on various ideas on the proposals and texts on the table. This effort remains a real indication of the sense of urgency and seriousness with which we are approaching this process." Gunnarsson said text-based talks need to start "as soon as we come back in the fall."

The fourth "Fish Week" negotiations on fisheries subsidies opened at the World Trade Organization July 10 with the chair, Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, fielding members' views on what parts from various proposals submitted by different countries would form the basis of the text-based talks in the fall, according to the WTO. Members are aiming to reach an agreement at the 13th Ministerial Conference set for February. The WTO will hold a July 19 meeting to discuss the "technical work related to the operation of the future Committee on Fisheries Subsidies," which will be established when the original fisheries deal, struck at MC12, comes into force. WTO Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard said "now is the right time to deepen the discussions and identify elements and approaches for the starting point of text-based negotiations in the fall."

The European Commission on July 7 opened a consultation on the use of its enforcement regulation in a World Trade Organization dispute on Indonesia's export restrictions on nickel. The move follows Indonesia's appeal of a WTO dispute panel ruling favorable to the EU. Due to the lack of a functioning Appellate Body, all appeals at the WTO are in limbo.

World Trade Organization members concluded negotiations July 6 on an Agreement on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD). The IFD seeks to facilitate foreign direct investment, particularly in developing nations, by "making rules transparent, streamlining investment procedures, and improving the relationship between investors and administrations," the European Commission said.

Japan formally accepted the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies deal, which imposes restrictions on subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Japan's pushes the number of acceptances to more than a third of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification, the WTO said July 4.

Many export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers remain in place despite "substantially more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures" that were introduced on goods from October to May, the World Trade Organization said in its Trade Monitoring Report on G-20 trade measures. Sixty-three export restrictions remained on food, feed and fertilizers, down from the 1,010 that had been imposed since the start of the war in Ukraine. The report, issued July 4, said the war in Ukraine, post-COVID-19 effects, extreme weather, and high food and energy prices are causing continued uncertainty in global trade.

A World Trade Organization dispute panel suspended its consideration of Russia's complaint against U.S. antidumping duties on steel and aluminum products at Russia's request, the WTO announced. The panel said that after reviewing Russia's comments and U.S. opposition, it decided to temporarily stop its work on the dispute. Per WTO rules, the panel cannot halt the work for more than 12 months.

The World Trade Organization is responsible for too many agreements, leading to fracturing coalitions and insufficient oversight, University of Arizona law professor Bashar Malkawi said in an International Economic Law and Policy Blog guest post. For the trade body to "survive as a meaningful entity," member nations should be willing to largely ditch the "consensus style of negotiations and agreements" and embrace a system operating largely under majority or super-majority votes, Malkawi suggested.

China formally accepted the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies June 27. The deal, struck at the 12th Ministerial Conference and requiring a two-thirds majority for ratification, imposes rules to crack down on subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Japan, Australia and Singapore, co-conveners of the e-commerce talks at the World Trade Organization, recently urged delegates to consider how the initiative can achieve results by the end of the year, the WTO said June 22. Facilitators of small group discussions noted progress on finding "landing zones on text proposals in areas such as cryptography, source code, privacy, 'single windows,' telecommunications, and data flows and data localisation," the WTO said. Other sessions held at the meeting included talks on general and security exceptions, digital inclusion and development and implementation.