Fractures in global trade deepen as WTO musters only a small win
barriers to commerce, ensure stability through global accords and enforce the rules came under renewed criticism following a chaotic and contentious meeting of its top officials.
The 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi last week laid bare an uncomfortable truth: For an organization that needs all 166 member countries to agree, the WTO again struggled to muster even a small win. Those are only getting messier and harder to pull off in an era of two armed conflicts, widening geopolitical gulfs and a realignment of the trading ties that bind the postwar economic order.
Meetings in the capital of the United Arab Emirates — positioned both geographically and geo-economically between US-European Union and China-Russia alliances — were dominated by disorder and confusion, according to several participants, who asked not to be named speaking about the private talks. They’re rarely jovial affairs, but hopes were quickly dashed that this year would be a turning point toward unity.
As talks headed for a sixth day near midnight Friday, ministers could only agree on a measure they’ve maintained since 1998 — extending a moratorium on tariffs on digital commerce. In doing so, the WTO salvaged an accord that businesses warned would splinter the global Internet if it lapsed, and navigated past opposition from India, South Africa and Indonesia.
But only barely. Minutes before a tentative e-commerce deal was announced, European Union officials warned reporters to brace for a negotiating round to end in a full-blown collapse of
