The appeals process will collapse in December
The US has stopped appointing members to the WTO appellate body and that means it won't be able to function in beyond December.
Canadian and EU officials have been working on a solution and they have agreed to set up an alternative channel for settling disputes. An agreement announced today would create an alternative process that would maintain the "essential principles and features" of the current body until the US issues are resolved.
The aim is to get other countries on board with the resolution process and avoid a free-for-all where the WTO is declawed.
