At a meeting on the Work Programme on E-Commerce on 28 January, WTO members shared perspectives on achieving an e-commerce outcome at the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), which will take place on 26 to 29 March in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Members continued discussions on the moratorium on the (...)
The volume of world merchandise trade plateaued at a high level in the third quarter of 2025 following a strong first-half expansion driven by import frontloading, favourable macroeconomic conditions and rising demand for AI-related products. At the same time, the US dollar value of merchandise (...)
At a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 27 January, WTO members considered a request from China for the establishment of a dispute panel to review certain Indian measures in the automotive and renewable energy sectors, which include incentives for the production of advanced (...)
At a meeting on 27 January, WTO members participating in the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (DPP) focused their discussions on a revised draft ministerial statement for the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), scheduled to take place next March in (...)
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcomed the latest cohort in the WTO Young Professionals Programme at a ceremony on 26 January at the WTO that also marked the 10th anniversary of the Programme. The 10 young professionals are working in divisions across the WTO Secretariat, where they (...)
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcomed constructive engagement on trade during her participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland from 19 to 23 January. In her public engagements and her meetings with leaders, high-level officials and business (...)
On 23 January 2026, Australia notified the WTO’s Committee on Safeguards that it had initiated on 23 January 2026 a safeguard investigation on imports of fabricated structural steel.
A major update of the Harmonized System (HS) for the customs classification of traded goods published on 21 January sets out new HS tariff headings for human vaccines and other essential health goods. These changes, carried out by the World Customs Organization (WCO) in close cooperation with (...)
Speaking at the Berlin Agriculture Ministers' Conference of the 18th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin on 17 January, WTO Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam stressed that water security is the foundation of food security. He highlighted estimates warning that global (...)
On 6 January 2026, Türkiye notified the WTO’s Committee on Safeguards that it had initiated on 31 December 2025 a safeguard investigation on imports of other paper and paperboard.