WTO Appellate Body Membership
Patrick Togni

There is growing concern in the international trade community that the WTO’s Appellate Body (“AB”) will soon not have enough members to function effectively. Under the WTO Agreements, the AB is expected to include seven members. Members of the AB are appointed by WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body and serve for four-year terms. Members may be reappointed for a second four-year term; their terms are staggered to ensure that the entire AB does not need to be replaced at the same time. Typically, three AB members are selected to hear each appeal in a dispute at the WTO.

At this time, the AB currently has only four members and the final terms of two members are scheduled to end on December 10, 2019. Another member’s first term will end on September 30, 2018. Due to a disagreement between the United States and other WTO members regarding the process for new appointments to the AB and the United States’ concerns about the AB’s decision-making process, which include the U.S. concern that the AB does not always issue its decisions in a timely manner, no new members have been appointed to the AB for nearly two years. Should no new members be appointed in the near future, it will soon become extremely difficult for the AB to complete its work. As a result, if the impasse is not resolved soon, the lack of new AB members could have a serious and adverse impact on the WTO dispute settlement process.

Two New Judges Nominated For U.S. Court Of International Trade
Barbara Medrado

On June 7, 2018, President Trump nominated Timothy M. Reif and M. Miller Baker to be judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade. Mr. Reif serves as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Trade Representative and is a visiting professor at Columbia Law School. From 2009 to 2017, Mr. Reif was the General Counsel of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office. Mr. Baker is currently co-chair of the appellate practice group at McDermott Will & Emery’s Washington, D.C., office.