A Daily Double of WTO Complaints
The latest two WTO consultations requests were both filed by Brazil:
| Thailand - Subsidies on Sugar | 507 | Brazil | Thailand | Apr 04, 2016 | Agriculture, SCM |
| Indonesia - Measures Concerning the Importation of Bovine Meat | 506 | Brazil | Indonesia | Apr 04, 2016 | Agriculture, GATT, Licensing, SPS, TBT |
They were filed on the same day, against different respondents, and on different products. That struck me as odd, so I looked up Brazil's history of complaints, and was surprised to see a number of similar instances of multiple, unrelated consultations requests filed within a couple weeks of each other:
I haven't yet checked any other countries to see if there is a similar pattern.
What's the explanation for this? Is it more cost-effective to prepare for multiple claims at the same time? I never noticed this behavior before, but with so many examples, it seems like it might be a conscious decision rather than a random occurrence.