"Taught correctly" means "our version of events" and that's what totalitarian states do.

India announces reforms to simplify import checks as it eyes US trade deal reut.rs/4pWLrgz

Indonesian, Vietnamese footwear makers feel the heat of US tariffs Rising costs and lingering uncertainty lead to canceled investments and lower margins trib.al/FNsw09d

Tariffs hit boots, bags and more as leather prices jump — and relief could be years away

Indonesia chief tariff negotiator says 'all substantial issues' settled with U.S. reut.rs/3NdH3el

The US’s Dec 15 paper on the WTO has received a lot of attention, some of it off the mark (it didn’t appear out of the blue but was a response to a report on what has been discussed on WTO reform) This by Alan Wolff is worth reading. 1/3 www.piie.com/blogs/realti...

New Zealand concludes a free trade agreement with India reut.rs/4qrF3Od

China slaps tariffs of up to 42.7% on EU dairy products, alleging 'damage' to the domestic dairy industry

India concludes trade deal with New Zealand https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade/india-concludes-trade-deal-with-new-zealand

This ⬇️ has now been updated to include Colombia stating in the Dec 19 WTO Dispute Settlement Body meeting that it has implemented the ruling tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/r...

I missed this a month ago ⬇️. Great move by the WTO Government Procurement Committee, a plurilateral, to make its documents public, including meeting agendas and chairs' reports. www.wto.org/english/news...

Which of WTO members’ trade measures are related to the environment? In this 24-page report for 2024, the WTO Secretariat has analysed 1,637 members’ notifications, and another 1,395 environment-related entries drawn from 15 Trade Policy Reviews. docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages...

What's up with the farmer's hoo-haa in Brussels? On the farmer's protests in Brussels this week.  #Mercosur #EUfarming Comment by John Clarke

For those interested in the nitty-gritty, this ⬇️ has now been revised slightly with a bit more on the debate, some background details, and another photo. The essential story is unchanged

The WTO General Council has just ended half a day later than scheduled. Among the decisions: Palestine has been approved as an observer at the Ministerial Conference in Cameroon in March. Confirmed to journalists by Norway Ambassador Petter Ølberg and WTO Spokesman Ismaila Dieng

In an acrimonious WTO General Council meeting yesterday evening, Singapore accused India of "falsehoods" and of "insulting" 91 developing countries, while South Africa stood back from blocking the plurilateral Investment Facilitation Agreement tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2025/12/18/o...

NOW OUTSIDE PAYWALL A guided tour of President Trump's 33-page, $5 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation How some parts are strong, some parts are weak - and why a strict legalistic analysis will not tell the whole story. emptycity.substack.com/p/a-guided-t... By me

Nothing to see here (unless you're deeply into WTO intellectual property law). This is about the possibility of bringing legal challenges if a country feels it's deprived of an expected right even if no rules have been broken. Which 2 countries? Still US, Switzerland? docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages...

Some Thoughts on Addressing Non-Market Policies and Practices through WTO Disputes

No surprise. The 128 countries—77% of the WTO’s membership—were blocked for the 11th time today in their attempt to add their plurilateral investment facilitation agreement to the WTO rule book. India, South Africa and Türkiye are the blocking countries. tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2024/07/22/1...

This is an important read for any of you concerned about the continuation of the GATT/WTO system. I find much in the U.S. position to object to, but there also some kernels of truth to which we should pay attention.

Cambodia applies to join CPTPP after U.S. tariff woes https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade/cambodia-applies-to-join-cptpp-after-u.s.-tariff-woes

I read the United States' comment on WTO reform and wrote about it: www.linkedin.com/pulse/united...

Dec 16 & 17, the year-end WTO General Council. Some people see WTO reform as the possible key outcome of the March Ministerial Conference. That’s going to be difficult, judging by new papers for the General Council: a report on consultations from “facilitator” Petter Ølberg; and a US response.

Five months ago Norway Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson held his last meeting as chair of the Fisheries Subsidies negotiations (Fish 2). At last the talks have a new chair, Amb. Leslie Ramsammy of Guyana. In the meantime the negotiating group has not met www.linkedin.com/posts/world-...

Dec 16 & 17, the year-end WTO General Council. Some people see WTO reform as the possible key outcome of the March Ministerial Conference. That’s going to be difficult, judging by new papers for the General Council: a report on consultations from “facilitator” Petter Ølberg; and a US response.

Hmm. Let's pick a fight. -ize is the preferred spelling of Oxford (UK) dictionaries.

For anyone interested, the proposed agenda for the WTO General Council on Tuesday and Wednesday is here docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages...

Yesterday, WTO ambassadors met as the Trade Negotiations Committee. The focus was on what could be achieved on negotiations subjects at the March Ministerial Conference Yaoundé, Cameroon. Unsurprisingly the answer is “almost nothing” except agreeing (again) on processes after the conference. 1/3

Nemo, the Swiss singer who won the 2024 Eurovision song contest, has said they are handing back their trophy in protest over Israel’s participation in next year’s event. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

For decades now, these three organisations have been collaborating on some excellent work

"There's a tendency to talk in all or nothing terms about these issues ("the rules-based international order" is "dead," "power politics ... really control everything"), but I think more nuance here can be useful." Plus an interesting exception. From @simonlester.com

A painful reminder that the US was the only country whose prosecutors went after FIFA corruption

Swiss government says new 15% U.S. tariff ceiling retroactive to mid-November

Hopes are now dashed of a decision next week to formalise in the WTO an agreement among 128 members on investment facilitation This has been going on for 2 years. India has just issued a new document repeating the opposition it argued at that time. 1/3 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages...

New #WTO Committee ought to provide more transparency on fisheries subsidies and a forum for members to query each other, including on measures that ought to have been notified. Could be the biggest benefit of new agreement. 1/2 @alicetipping.bsky.social @coppetainpu.bsky.social

The committee overseeing the 2022 WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement held its inaugural meeting today. Ana Laura Lizano, Costa Rica, is its first chair It comprises all 166 WTO members but the disciplines and notifying obligations only apply to 116 ratifying members www.wto.org/english/news... 1/2

Back to their roots: a brief history of trees in photos www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Worth remembering that agreements called "Customs Unions" often don't confirm to economists' or WTO Art XXIV definitions. EU-TR doesn't cover all goods or a real CCP, but does cover regulatory alignment. And Mercosur...

For me, this is the point. The case has to be made in comparison to alternatives. I'd add a free trade agreement that reduces barriers further without requiring common external tariffs, so not a customs union but FTA++

Is there a trade expert out there arguing for a UK-EU customs union? I think it’s fair to say that @davidheniguk.bsky.social @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social and myself are hardly Euroskeptics, and while we emphasise different things in talking about a CU the conclusion is unanimous.

Good morning Gianni Infantino and FIFA. Are you sure about that peace prize?

A look back at the work of Martin Parr, who has died aged 73. Known for his acute observations of the English class system, Parr’s images covered sunbathers and Conservative clubs, village fetes and coffee mornings www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

A bit niche, but important in trade. The 73 members who struck a deal on e-commerce continue to push for a WTO-wide consensus to make it an official “plurilateral” WTO agreement = applying only to some members. They are now 73 because the Philippines has joined them. docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages...

A customs union is only for goods. What about services? Joining the EU customs union means UK external tariffs will largely be set by the EU, and that includes things like tariffs to protect Mediterranean orange growers. Good closer relations might involve more than a 2-word slogan.

No words www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A paper from Indonesia seems to have made agreement in the current WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations even more difficult to reach. It says the latest draft would violate sovereignty principles in the UN Law of the Sea. This is going to be controversial tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/i...

11 WTO members have accepted the inevitable and drafted a decision to give up the idea of concluding fisheries subsidies talks at the next Ministerial Conference in Youndé in March. All but one of the 11 are island states, and all but two of those are Pacific island states — not necessarily small

This is glorious. I've noticed a behaviour change myself. Nowadays, when the search engine produces an AI explanation at the top of its results, I immediately scroll further, looking for the bit from Wikipedia, which I assume is more trustworthy.

When your team is not doing well, it hurts. But nothing, NOTHING excuses this. www.bbc.com/sport/footba...