The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Dec. 21 that the U.S. and China have reached an agreement confirming the full elimination by China of a range of subsidies that had allegedly been supporting the export of “famous brands” of Chinese merchandise and other Chinese products around the world (i.e., the “Famous Export Brand” program, the “China World Top Brand” program and various sub-central government measures implementing these programs). The U.S. filed a WTO dispute settlement case against China over these subsidies in Dec. 2008 and the case quickly generated a considerable amount of interest around the world, which led Australia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, the European Union, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand and Turkey to join the consultations in 2009.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection today announced the new membership of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection.

The current global financial crisis will continue to impact the customs and trade … The effects of the crisis have already been felt in escalating trade finance costs and falling freight volumes. Nevertheless, there was consensus, reaffirmed during the meeting of the Group of 20 leaders in November, that all governments must resist the temptation to raise trade restrictions in response to declining growth and job losses; the experience of the 1930s proved that protectionist trade policy only made matters worse.

Japan’s merchandise trade surplus with the United States expanded in November for the first time in 27 months as the pace of decline in Japanese exports slowed significantly, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry….

Behind the scenes negotiating by major economies in Copenhagen to agree a climate accord may be a model for how to wrap up the Doha Round of trade talks, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Friday.