Dear International Trade and Investment Committee Members,
As a new service for Committee Members, we are launching this media monitoring newsletter to distribute current information on international trade and investment issues that would be of interest to Members. This newsletter will consolidate the most significant new articles, publications, and government notices concerning international trade and investment for the past week. We hope that you will find the Newsletter to be helpful and welcome any comments or suggestions on how to improve it. Should you wish to help the Newsletter sub-committee and offer to curate an edition or provide any feedback, please e-mail to Andrew Lanouette at alanouette@cassidylevy.com for more information.
Here are the international trade and investment articles and publications of interest for the week of December 2 to December 8. Andrew Lanouette has curated this week’s edition. Andrew is Co-Chair of the International Trade and Investment Committee and is International Trade Counsel at Cassidy Levy Kent LLP’s Ottawa office.
Top News: World Trade Organization Reaches Agreement on Bali Package
- The WTO’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded a day later than scheduled on 7 December 2013 with agreement on a package of issues designed to streamline trade, allow developing countries more options for providing food security, boost least developed countries’ trade and help development more generally.
- The Obama administration lauded an agreement on trade rules struck by the World Trade Organization, while analysts said the deal may do more to salvage broader WTO talks than solve food shortages and help global commerce.
- There's no shortage of critics of massive trade agreements like TPP and TAFTA/TTIP, but today saw strong condemnation from a very unexpected quarter: the Holy See, often, if erroneously, equated with the Vatican. Whatever the jurisdictional differences, the statement delivered by His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva at the 9th Session of the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization presumably comes with the full approval of Pope Francis himself. We can assume that because of the extremely controversial statements it contains, which would have required approval at the highest level.
Other News of Note
- Participants in the plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) affirmed at a ministerial meeting during the WTO’s Ninth Ministerial Conference their shared objective of bringing a revised version of the Agreement into force as soon as possible, and in any event no later than 31 March 2014. The revised Agreement, adopted in March 2012, modernizes the Agreement’s text and includes a significant extension of related market access commitments.
- Canada posted its first trade surplus in almost two years in October, although analysts were quick to note that the surprise reversal after a string of 22 consecutive deficits did not signal a long-awaited turnaround in the export sector.
- Deal set to scrap tariffs on major exports and includes controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.
Government Announcements/Press Releases
- Canada strongly condemns North Korea’s continued belligerence and provocative actions. I am pleased to announce that Canada will implement additional sanctions on North Korea, in accordance with United Nation Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2094.
- The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today announced the conclusion of negotiations on a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA) between Canada and Guinea. Minister Fast made the announcement following a meeting with Mohamed Dorval Doumbouya, Guinea’s Minister of Commerce, on the margins of the Ninth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
Commentary
- In rapid succession, the Government of China has lost three cases before the World Trade Organization ("WTO") involving its conduct of injury investigations. The affirmative injury findings involve the disparate products of grain-oriented electrical steel, x-ray equipment, and chicken broiler parts. These cases evince a pattern of conduct by the Chinese investigating authority ("MOFCOM") that show a lack of compliance with WTO obligations to conduct objective and fair injury investigations in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings.
- A recent World Trade Organization ruling that upholds the European Union’s ban on Canadian seal products is troubling, to say the least. The ruling allows the banning of imports over subjective concerns about animal welfare, without regard to the facts, and the federal government is right to appeal it.
- The Obama administration has quietly embraced the most ambitious agenda on trade and investment liberalization in the past two decades.