Members welcome progress on trade concerns, how to improve notifications at Goods Council

Resolution of trade concerns raised in Goods Council - Secretariat report 

The WTO Secretariat presented to members a report entitled Resolution of trade concerns raised in the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG).  The report, the first of its kind, is in line with the July 2025 mandate from the Council instructing the Secretariat to produce a compilation, based on members' reports, on the trade concerns they consider to be fully or partially resolved. To this end, the Secretariat contacted 66 relevant members with regards to the concerns they had raised or responded to in the Goods Council since 1995 and that had not been discussed at the Council's three previous formal meetings.

The information in this first report is partial in nature, the Secretariat cautioned, noting that it compiles responses received from 32 members by 10 November and that other members had requested more time to review their records. With this in mind, the Secretariat noted there are 97 concerns where at least one member considers it to be resolved or partially resolved, representing almost half of trade concerns discussed in the Council between 1995 and July 2025.

Detailed information can be found in the WTO's Trade Concerns Database, the Secretariat added.

The Chair, Ambassador Gustavo Nerio Lunazzi (Argentina), thanked the Secretariat for the report and said this important factual information would be beneficial for the discussions on WTO reform currently underway, highlighting the Council as a forum to address trade frictions.

Ten members took the floor to comment. Many of those which spoke welcomed the Secretariat report and said it demonstrates the value of the organization's trade monitoring functions and the platform provided for dialogue, which contributes to de-escalating trade tensions. This essential work often goes unnoticed despite its practical impact, they added. Several members updated the Council on the status of other trade concerns which will be reflected in an updated version of the report.

Improving the quality and timeliness of notifications

Members considered 13 reports submitted by the Council's subsidiary bodies on improving the notification of regular/periodic and one-time only notifications as well as a structured summary from the WTO Secretariat. 

The summary highlights that notifications are one of the main instruments through which members give effect to WTO transparency obligations, and that ensuring notifications are complete, timely and accessible is central to the predictability of the trading system and the regular work of most WTO bodies. The Secretariat told members that, since the reports were diverse in focus, level of detail and style, the structured summary sought to provide an overview that would facilitate discussions at the Council.

The report shows that most subsidiary bodies have repeatedly tried to improve the transparency provisions over the years and to ensure that the information notified is kept up to date and useful for all stakeholders.  The reviews have had diverging levels of success and frequency, the Secretariat added. 

Some of the subsidiary bodies have also experimented with the introduction of new approaches, including the development of digital platforms to simplify their work (such as ePing or the Trade Facilitation Agreement Database), the concept of "oral notifications" in the Committee on Agriculture, and the automatic transmission of tariff and import data in the Committee on Market Access. 

Moreover, measures which have been successful in one area are sometimes also tried in another one, with the committees on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade being perhaps the best examples.  There also appears to be areas where the notification procedures are considered to be mature and where no further changes are needed, such as in the WTO committees on safeguards, anti-dumping and subsidies/countervailing measures.

Around a dozen members took the floor to comment on the structured summary by the Secretariat and the 13 reports.  Many welcomed them and encouraged further work by members in this area.  One member said the level of effort put forth by the sub bodies over the years was impressive but, as the report indicates, timeliness and completeness of members' notifications continue to be a major concern.

For the Chair, all of these reports present members with a very useful tool, reflecting practices that may be adopted by other subsidiary bodies and new ideas that can be looked into further. The Council agreed to continue its discussions in April next year.

Trade concerns

The CTG reviewed 34 trade concerns, with four new concerns raised for the first time at the Goods Council:

• the United Kingdom's safeguard on steel imports, raised by the Republic of Korea;
• the European Union's cumulative trade restrictions on steel products, raised by Japan;
• the United Kingdom's report on negotiations under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), raised by India and the Russian Federation; and
• the European Union's proposed tariff rate quota on steel imports, raised by China and the Russian Federation.

Trade concerns previously raised in the CTG have covered a wide range of measures relating to trade in goods across the WTO membership, including non-tariff barriers, environmental policies, import taxes, import/export restrictions, national security measures, subsidy schemes, export controls, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, discriminatory domestic taxes, administrative procedures and reciprocal tariffs.

They have also encompassed a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, semi-conductors and semi-conductor-manufacturing equipment, shipbuilding and food products as well as specific products, such as critical minerals, electric vehicles, electric batteries, liquors, air conditioners, apples and pears, cheese, pulses, air conditioners, cosmetics and tyres.  The full list of trade concerns can be found in the meeting's agenda and the Trade Concerns Database.

Fragmentation of global trade through tariffs 

Switzerland, Norway, Australia and New Zealand introduced an agenda item regarding fragmentation of global trade through tariffs and the global costs.  Ten other members also took the floor on this item. In general, these members voiced concerns over recent developments and warned that unilateral tariff measures and protectionist actions were exacerbating uncertainty, thereby impacting industries, investors, and workers worldwide.

They emphasized that the shift toward bilateral arrangements, coupled with opaque trade measures, risks fragmenting the rules-based system and further eroding predictability, and called for enhanced transparency in notifying new measures to the WTO.  They also stressed the urgent need for WTO reform to ensure the organization remains agile and effective in addressing current challenges.   Other members expressed concern over unilateral trade measures for environmental reasons which had been introduced by some members.

In response, a delegation noted that the goal of trade policy is not to make the most trade deals or drive efficiency at all costs, but to support workers and families by building an economy oriented around production by the middle class, and not consumption. Such a production economy will be based on having an autonomous trade policy and by pursuing resilience.  This member also said that it is working with partners to create trade relationships based on true reciprocity and principles of fair and balanced trade; this new trade order will be more flexible than the current system, allowing for differentiation among partners and ensuring benefits will accrue to those partners. 

Extension of negotiations on revised goods schedules - Armenia and Kyrgyz Republic

The Goods Council agreed to requests from Armenia and the Kyrgyz Republic to extend the period of time to conclude negotiations with members on withdrawing concessions under their WTO goods schedules to take account of their accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).  The time period to conclude the negotiations under Article XXVIII of the GATT has been extended to 2 January 2027 and 12 February 2027 respectively.

Next meeting

The next formal meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods is tentatively scheduled for 5-6 May 2026.