El Comité de Acceso a los Mercados examina preocupaciones comerciales específicas y cuestiones relativas al comercio mundial

At its 13 October meeting, the Committee elected Mr Gaurav Gupta (India) as Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the 2025-26 period.

Thematic sessions on supply chain resilience

Following four experience-sharing sessions on supply chain resilience, members held discussions on next steps. The Chair reported that members that took the floor underscored the importance of the issue and recognized the useful work already undertaken by the Committee. The Chair also said the next steps would depend on members’ guidance and that the Committee would revert to this matter at the next informal meeting.

Trade fragmentation, EU deforestation regulation

Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland jointly introduced an agenda item on fragmentation of global trade as a result of tariff increases and the global costs. These members said they were deeply concerned about ongoing developments in global trade, which have contributed to increased instability and uncertainty for consumers, workers and businesses. They also expressed concern about the lack of transparency around trade arrangements and called on all members to notify any new or revised tariff measures to the WTO, including measures that might be provided on a preferential basis. They affirmed their commitment to upholding the system of global trade rules and the shared commitment by all members to meaningful WTO reform.

Twelve members took the floor to offer their views on the item raised.

Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru once again introduced an agenda item regarding the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-Free Supply Chains (EUDR), which they contend is a quantitative restriction (QR) on imports that should be notified to the Committee. The EU reiterated that the EUDR is not a market access measure, but rather an internal regulation measure designed in line with WTO rules.

Four members took the floor to offer their views on the item raised.

Trade concerns

Members discussed 35 trade concerns, three of which were raised for the first time. New concerns covered tariff rate quotas for certain steel products in Canada; measures affecting the importation of pharmaceutical products in Indonesia; and tariff rates applied to alcoholic products in Trinidad and Tobago.

The full list of trade concerns discussed during the meeting is available here.

Members’ official websites with tariff information and import statistics

 he WTO Secretariat presented the latest revisions to its list of members’ official

websites in which tariff or import data are publicly available. The latest version of the list contains 23 updates, including five new links for members for which information was not previously available. The list contains links to websites on tariff information and/or import statistics from WTO members.

Improving compliance with notification requirements

The Committee reviewed a report from the Chair summarizing the latest discussions on how to improve members’ notifications to the Committee concerning applied tariffs and import statistics as well as quantitative restrictions. The Chair asked the Secretariat to prepare a report for submission to the Council on Trade in Goods next month summarizing the recent discussions on this issue.

Harmonized System and work of WCO

An official from the World Customs Organization (WCO) updated members regarding recent restructuring of the organization as well as recent developments concerning the Harmonized System Convention and the work of its relevant bodies. The official also noted that the technical work for HS2033 has already begun. In addition, the WTO and WCO would work in the coming months to further strengthen collaboration as outlined in a memorandum of understanding concluded in January; the close relationship between the organizations reflects the fact that trade policy and its implementation by customs are two critical components of global trade, the official noted.

Other business

Brazil, India, the Republic of Korea, Japan, China and Chinese Taipei took the floor to express concern about the European Union’s recent proposal to reduce tariff rate quota volumes, and increase tariffs, on imported steel. They said that they awaited clarification from the EU on how this would be implemented to be consistent with the EU’s WTO obligations. The EU said the proposed measures were fully compatible with WTO rules (GATT Article XXVIII) and that it was ready to enter into negotiations with affected members.

The Russian Federation took the floor to express concern over a recently submitted report by the United Kingdom concluding the renegotiation of its tariff rate quotas in connection with Brexit.

The Secretariat informed members of recent changes to the WTO website, including an updated section that gives access to derestricted negotiating materials from GATT rounds. This includes approximately 1,600 bilateral records, such as requests, offers and bilateral agreements that constituted the basis of the “request and offer” approach and were the basis of the WTO Goods Schedules.