What to watch for: General Council Chair Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme will issue a summary of the meeting Tuesday, which will be the outcome document for senior officials to take back to their capitals for ministers to review. Okonjo-Iweala and Molokomme could also hold a joint press conference Tuesday, although that has not yet been announced. LDC initiative: The meeting will start with a short session of the General Council, the WTO’s highest decision-making body outside of a ministerial conference. Members are expected to approve a proposal calling for a smooth and sustainable transition period for any developing country that could lose trade benefits because it is no longer a “least-developed country.†Latest fishing subsidy deal tally: Members are striving to reach a second deal to curb harmful fishing subsidies before MC13, while moving to ratify the initial agreement they reached last year. Another five to seven members will deposit their instruments of acceptance for the initial pact today, bringing the number of members that have ratified the deal to around 44. That would still require another 66 additional acceptances to bring the pact into force. EU-U.S. TRADE TALKS PAUSE WITH A WHIMPER: Washington and Brussels failed to solve their trade disputes on steel and aluminum and critical minerals at a high-level summit on Friday where U.S. President Joe Biden hosted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. You read it here first. POLITICO scooped the text on Friday afternoon, which laid out that the EU and the U.S. agreed to “make progress†to resolve trade disputes — a major step down from what Brussels and Washington were hoping to achieve at the summit, after negotiators had bargained in search of a substantial deal right up to the eve of the meeting. Businesses unhappy: “Time is running out and businesses on both shores of the Atlantic face uncertainty with a prospect of tariffs and future rebalancing measures,†said BusinessEurope’s Fredrik Persson. “We urge the two sides not to lose the sense of urgency and stay committed to finding permanent solutions for both of these important issues.†What’s next: Now, the Biden administration and the Commission are set to consult with stakeholders on critical minerals “in the coming weeks.†But but but: Without a deal, the U.S. tariffs and EU counter-tariffs are set to snap back on Jan. 1. Washington has, however, been trying to make amends with Brussels, as it committed not to reimpose steel and aluminum tariffs at the end of the year. You’re too kind. The Biden administration wants to give “breathing room†to the negotiations, said one official with direct knowledge of the talks, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the deal. The move is a “gesture of goodwill†toward the EU, they added. Full story here (for Pros!). What about the TTC then? An earlier version of the joint statement, dated Oct. 13 and seen by POLITICO, said that the next EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council summit would take place in December. In its final version, however, the statement was made more vague to say that the upcoming TTC would take place “later in 2023.†OFFICIAL: U.S. COULD CURB CHINA CLOUD ACCESS: Alan Estevez, undersecretary of Commerce for industry and security, said the U.S. is considering measures to restrict China’s access to cloud computing services, in an interview with Tokyo-headquartered Nikkei Asia. "We're looking at what the best way to control that, if we can, is, and that requires consultation with industry," Estevez said over the weekend. "The concern is ... AI in the future will probably command and control military logistics [and] military radar, [and] electronic warfare capabilities will be advanced. So we want to make sure that we're controlling the use."
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