US Not Party to New WTO Dispute in 2021, a First in History of Organization, ITC Says

For the first time since the establishment of the World Trade Organization, the U.S. in 2021 was neither a complaining party nor named a respondent in a new dispute, the International Trade Commission said in its Year in Trade 2021 annual report. The report, subtitled "Operation of the Trade Agreements Program," further said that during 2021, WTO members filed nine new dispute settlement consultation requests, up from five in 2020, though still the second-lowest mark for any year since the start of the WTO in 1995. The disputes were filed by eight WTO members: Costa Rica, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, China, the EU, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Costa Rica filed two disputes. Other elements of the ITC's report touch on U.S. concerns about the WTO dispute settlement system and panels set up in 2021 that involve the U.S.