On 6 January 2026, Madagascar notified the WTO's Committee on Safeguards that it had initiated on 24 December 2025 a safeguard investigation on imports of plastic pipes and tubes and accessories thereof.In the notification, Madagascar indicated, among other things, as follows (provisional English translation):"Interested parties must make themselv...
China initiates dispute regarding Indian measures on solar cells and modules, and IT goodsChina has requested WTO dispute consultations with India regarding certain Indian measures on solar cells, solar modules, and information technology goods. China said the measures in question include India's tariff treatment and certain measures that China said ar...
At a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 19 December, WTO members agreed to a request from the European Union for authorization to impose countermeasures on imported goods from the United States in line with a WTO arbitrator decision in the US-EU ripe olives dispute.NoteThis summary has been prepared by the WTO Secretariat’s Information and Ex...
Members review possible deliverables for MC14 at final 2025 General Council meetingWTO members considered possible deliverables for the organization's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) at a marathon three-day General Council meeting on 16-18 December. The membership discussed reports from the Director-General and the chairs and facilitators of various...
At a series of services meetings, held during the week of 9 December, the WTO Council for Trade in Services and its subsidiary bodies discussed green services, facilitating cross-border remittance transfers, and the classification of environmental services among other issues. Members also reviewed progress on efforts to help least developed countries (LDCs...
WTO members have injected renewed energy into the agricultural negotiations by tabling seven new submissions in the negotiating body on agriculture, the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture, ahead of the organisation's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. At meetings of the body on 8 December, members empha...
At the opening of the Trade in Services for Development (TS4D) Conference on 3-4 December, the WTO and World Bank highlighted progress in the initiative's efforts to help developing economies leverage services trade for growth and development. Emphasizing the importance of services trade for the future of trade, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sai...
Food processing and global trade flows: What are the trends?2 December 2025By Eriya Chea, Siramane Coulibaly, Mateo Ferrero, Chen Lu, Thomas Verbeet and Erik WijkströmEconomies around the world are increasingly adopting public health policies aimed at improving nutrition and reducing the onset of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabet...
The value of global goods imports affected by new tariffs and other import measures increased more than fourfold from mid-October 2024 to mid-October 2025 compared to the prior 12-month period, marking the highest coverage in over 15 years of WTO trade monitoring, according to the WTO Director-General's latest annual overview of developments in the int...
Goods trade growth appears to have slowed in the second half of 2025 following a surge in the first half driven by frontloading of imports ahead of expected tariff hikes and by rising demand for AI-related products, according to the latest WTO Goods Trade Barometer.Goods trade growth set to moderate as barometer index dipsThe overall barometer index (illus...
