Tag - wto

 
Menu
Search
 
July 12, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

WTO

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during an interview in Tokyo on Monday
BUSINESS
May 20, 2026
WTO chief urges Japan to lead the charge in reforming its rules
As an “important middle power,” Japan should take the lead in reforms for the World Trade Organization, said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, its director-general.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 22.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2026
WTO plans 10% budget cut as U.S. falls back into arrears, documents show
Washington is usually the biggest contributor to the Geneva-based body, but it was ⁠not immediately clear when — or even if — the U.S. would pay up.
Delegates attend the World Trade Organization 14th ministerial meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 30, 2026
WTO talks end in deadlock after Brazil blocks deal over e-commerce duties
The WTO countries are negotiating an extension to a moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions such as digital downloads.
The Chateau de la Muette, headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, France. The OECD’s detailed peer-review system is essential to global economic stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2026
In a fragmented world, the OECD matters more than ever
In a global marketplace, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development remains essential.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea, in October.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump is no game theorist
Game theorists argue that repeating the prisoner’s dilemma eventually leads to better outcomes, as the more impatient country might give up on the high-risk strategy.
Historians’ rankings of America’s best and worst foreign-policy decisions show the U.S. succeeded when it led cooperatively through multilateral institutions and failed when it turned inward or went rogue.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2026
The 10 best and worst U.S. foreign policy decisions
America was at its best whenever it was open to the world and engaged with it, and at its worst when it became closed.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi meets with his Swiss counterpart, Martin Pfister, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. Japan should revitalize the OECD as a hub for middle powers, moving beyond the Group of Seven and Bretton Woods.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2026
After Davos, middle powers matter more than ever
Japan is well placed to act as a custodian of cooperation among countries that still depend on functioning markets but can no longer rely on a single guarantor.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 9. The United States may have done more than any other country to create the conditions for robust economic growth and relative peace after World War II, but nothing lasts forever.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2025
Filling America’s shoes
The United States may have done more than any other country to create the conditions for robust economic growth and relative peace after World War II, but nothing lasts forever.
Steel products are the target of two anti-dumping probes Japan has begun so far this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 15, 2025
Japan turns to anti-dumping measures as international trade gets complicated
An uptick in number of probes this year indicates an evolving strategy.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato takes part in an online meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers on Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2025
Japan pushes back on U.S. call for tariff hikes over Russian oil
Tokyo is cautious about joining efforts to raise tariffs on countries trading with Russia as Japan itself has continued importing LNG from its neighbor.
The World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Japan will appoint a permanent representative focusing on the WTO for the first time.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2025
Japan to appoint first permanent representative focusing on WTO
The decision is designed to strengthen trade cooperation with other countries and counter steep tariffs from the U.S.
Without a coordinated international response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, growing uncertainty could lead to a fragmented global economy marked by slower growth and chronic instability.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2025
Trump’s tariff chaos could reverse 80 years of economic progress
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies are undermining the rules-based system established after World War II.
A worker rides a tractor while spraying organic pesticide on crops at a farm in Hudson, New York, in 2020.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2025
EU plans stricter food import restrictions over pesticide use
EU farmers have been protesting across Europe over the past year about the increasing burdens of the bloc’s climate and environmental rules.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in October 2017. Canada, like other nations in the president-elect's crosshairs, is scrambling to blunt the impact of his threat to implement steep tariffs once he re-takes office.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024
The creep of national security threatens the WTO
In Trump’s mind, tariffs are the cure-all for virtually everything that ails the United States.
Developing nations feel that international trade rules favor developed countries and undermine their interests, particularly in areas like agriculture and fishing subsidies.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2024
Why have developing countries soured on multilateralism?
The efforts of advanced economies to link trade agreements to labor and environmental standards could disadvantage developing nations.
The United States has abandoned its long-standing demand for World Trade Organization provisions to protect cross-border data flows.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2024
The U.S. is jeopardizing the open internet
The U.S. has changed its stance at the WTO on cross-border data flows, a move that could seriously harm the open internet that so many benefit from.
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala addresses the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 26, 2024
WTO seeks modest outcome in UAE at ‘critical juncture’ for global trade
The stated goals is to set new global commerce rules, but even its ambitious chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sought to curb expectations.
U.S. President Joe Biden announces new provisions in March 2022 requiring the government to buy more made-in-America goods.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2024
Biden doesn’t get why we need the WTO
What do Biden and Trump have in common? Protectionism. As a result, the 13th WTO ministerial conference underway in Abu Dhabi is doomed to fail.
Laws governing global e-commerce and the growing tidal wave of data that crosses borders may soon change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024
Streaming a movie abroad may soon come with taxes at the border
It’s still unclear exactly how governments would implement digital tariffs.
Given that developing countries’ domestic markets are much smaller than that of the U.S., liberal trade policies play a larger role in driving their economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2024
Developing countries should reject American-style protectionism
America’s current industrial policy poses an existential threat to the multilateral trading system it worked so hard to build
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being
Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER