Trade ministers from Japan, the U.S., the EU, the U.K., France, Canada, Germany and Italy said they will work to reach an agreement on World Trade Organization reform "with the view to having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024." The binding appellate level of dispute settlement at the WTO has been defunct since late 2019, because the U.S. blocked all appointments to the appellate body.

Despite the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which should put a damper on exports in supply chains of goods that are destined for the U.S., exports from Xinjiang are climbing sharply, by nearly 50%, according to a recent report in the South China Morning Post.

A World Trade Organization panel will review U.S. antidumping duties on oil country tubular goods from Argentina after Argentina's request for a dispute panel was granted by the Dispute Settlement Body, the WTO announced. Argentina's request was the second in its case arguing that the duties violate WTO rules and that the U.S. illegally cumulated imports in assessing injury caused by the subject imports.

Mexico's Economy Secretariat announced last week that it resolved issues at Mas Air, a cargo airline in Mexico City, after it received a labor complaint from the U.S. government in late August (see 2308310029).

Japan is assessing whether China’s recent export restrictions on certain graphite products (see 2310200030), a key material used to produce batteries for electric vehicles, violated World Trade Organization rules, the country’s chief cabinet secretary told reporters last week, according to an audio translation released by Japan. Japan is “scrutinizing the impact” of the restrictions and is seeking more information from Beijing about the “intention and purpose” of the controls, the secretary said. “Based on WTO international rules, if an unfair measure is taken against Japan, then we have to take appropriate measures based on rules.”

China on Oct. 20 announced new export controls on certain graphite products, placing restrictions on a key material used to produce batteries for electric vehicles. The country's Ministry of Commerce will require companies to secure export licenses for high-purity, high-strength artificial graphite materials and their products, along with natural flake graphite and its products, according to an unofficial translation of a notice.

Katrin Kuhlmann, a visiting professor of law at Georgetown University, and Devi Ariyani, the executive director of the Indonesia Service Dialogue Council, both said they hope the World Trade Organization's moratorium on e-commerce duties is extended, during a Peterson Institute for International Economics event on Oct. 18. Although the moratorium has been regularly extended since 1998, a few countries are preparing to introduce tariffs on digitally transferred goods before the moratorium's expiration in March 2024, Cecilia Malmström, a nonresident senior fellow at PIIE, said at the event.

Norway, one of the major suppliers of electric vehicle battery minerals to the U.S., hasn't gotten any encouragement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative when its representatives have asked to negotiate a critical minerals agreement.

The European Parliament's Internal Market and International Trade committees adopted a draft regulation that would provide a framework for investigating the use of forced labor in global supply chains and bans all goods using forced labor, the parliament announced. If the investigation of a company reveals the use of forced labor, the European Parliament said, "all import and export of the related goods would be halted at the EU's borders and companies would also have to withdraw goods that have already reached the EU market." Goods that had reached the market would be "donated, recycled or destroyed."

The World Customs Organization's Harmonized System Committee will extend its customary five-year review cycle by an additional year, the WCO said in a press release on Oct. 12. This means that the next version of the Harmonized System will be implemented on Jan. 1, 2028.