Dear International Trade and Investment Committee Members,
Here are the international trade and investment articles and publications of interest for the week of August 5 to August 10. This week’s edition has been curated by Alexandra Logvin. Alexandra is an associate at Fasken Martineau in Ottawa, practising primarily in the areas of international trade law, investment law, commercial litigation, and arbitration.
News of Note
- Trade officials from Japan and the United States resumed negotiations Monday over sticking issues related to market access for agricultural products such as beef and pork under a Pacific Rim free trade initiative. Both governments will explore ways to strike a deal possibly this fall on Japan's exceptional tariffs on some farm products so that plenary talks on the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership pact can make progress, a Japanese official said earlier. A key topic in the talks between Hiroshi Oe, deputy chief TPP negotiator of Japan, and Wendy Cutler, acting deputy U.S. trade representative, will be whether the United States allows Japan to introduce safeguard measures for beef and pork when necessary.
- China stepped up pressure on foreign carmakers in the world's biggest auto market Wednesday, pledging to punish German luxury brand Audi and Chrysler for "monopoly behavior."
- On 7 August 2014, the WTO Appellate Body issued its reports in the case “China — Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum (DS431/DS432/DS433)”. The Appellate Body upheld the Panel's findings that China's export quotas on rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum are not justified under Article XX(g) of the GATT 1994.
- Russia retaliated on Thursday for Western sanctions against Moscow, announcing that it was banning imports of a wide range of food and agricultural products from Europe and the United States, among others. The move raised the level of confrontation over Ukraine with measures that seemed likely to affect Russian consumers at least as much as European farming. Dmitri A. Medvedev, the prime minister, announced that Russia would ban all beef, pork, fish, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway for one year.
Government Announcements/Press Releases
- The WTO updated its Statistics Database on 5 August 2014. This now includes data for 2013 on global exports and imports of merchandise and on trade in commercial services. The data are available by country, region and commodity/service.
- Joint Statement
- Indonesian Foreign Minister, Dr. R. M. Marty M. Natalegawa and Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, met at Gedung Pancasila, Jakarta, on 5 August 2014 for the 4th Bilateral Consultative Forum between the Republic of Indonesia and Canada.
- The ministers agreed to expand bilateral engagement through increased trade, investment, economic, and development cooperation; through strengthened political, democratic governance, security cooperation; through enhanced collaboration on socio-cultural, education, people-to-people contacts. They welcomed parliamentary exchanges. Ministers also reiterated their governments’ mutual respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity. […]
- The ministers acknowledged the importance of the private sector’s role in boosting bilateral economic cooperation. Ministers highlighted the importance of a mutually beneficial bilateral trade, and of maintaining an open and stable investment environment. Ministers welcomed the organization of the first Commercial Dialogue attended by business representatives of both countries. […]
- Last October, Canada, with the unanimous endorsement of all provinces and territories, reached a historic Agreement-in-Principle on a free trade agreement with the European Union.
- Today, Canada and the European Union are pleased to announce that officials have reached a complete text, allowing translation and final legal review to commence.
- As per their involvement throughout the process, Canada’s provinces and territories have received the complete text and have been comprehensively briefed on its content as well as on next steps.
- Planning has also begun for a September Canada-EU Summit that will be hosted in Canada.
- Today, it was also announced that Prime Minister Harper and Minister Fast will lead a trade mission to the United Kingdom in early September to secure the jobs and first-mover competitive advantages the historic Canada-EU trade agreement creates.
- The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today announced the signing of a $30-million contract for the sale of 6K low-profile shipboard-use forklifts by Manitex Liftking to the United States Department of Defense. The sale was facilitated by the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), the Government of Canada’s international government-to-government contracting organization. The contract was awarded under the Defence Production Sharing Agreement between Canada and the United States of America.
Commentaries
- The collapse last week of a global trade agreement on simplifying customs rules will make it much harder for the World Trade Organization to finish its much-delayed Doha round of negotiations, which has a much broader agenda to lower tariffs and reduce barriers to trade. India's veto of World Trade Organization's final agreement on customs rules is forecasted to further erode confidence in global trading system.