G-7 Trade Ministers Set WTO Appellate Body Reform Deadline

Trade ministers from the U.S., Japan, the EU, Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Italy said they will work for "necessary reform" at the World Trade Organization, including trying to reach an agreement to restore "a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members by 2024."

The G-7 trade ministers' statement, released April 4, noted that the WTO director-general participated in their meeting, and that they all will instruct their ambassadors in Geneva "to accelerate the work" on WTO reform, an agreement to curtail fisheries subsidies, instituting a permanent moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions, and agricultural reform.

They also said they will work together to facilitate trade in environmental goods, and will discuss at the WTO "how trade-related climate and environmental measures and policies can best contribute to climate and environmental goals." The EU is planning a carbon border adjustment tax, to make imports from economies that do not have a carbon tax more expensive. The EU and the U.S. are working together on a system for evaluating the carbon cost of the steel and aluminum their respective countries produce, with an eye to favoring trade in cleaner metals.

The statement did not mention China, but did talk about the problems that the major economies say China poses to free trade. "We reaffirm our shared concerns with non-market policies and practices, including their problematic evolution, which presents a systemic challenge that requires urgent actions. We will sustain and further step up our efforts towards securing a level playing field for our businesses and workers, by addressing such policies and practices that distort fair global competition, trade, and investment. In this regard, we will pursue more effective use of existing tools, as well as developing appropriate new tools and stronger international rules and norms," they said.

They specifically mentioned "pervasive and harmful industrial subsidies, market-distortive practices of state-owned enterprises, and all forms of forced technology transfer" as problems for a level playing field.