Okonjo-Iweala given 2nd term as WTO chief as Trump's return looms over trade body's future
The World Trade Organization chief says she’s “eager” to work with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his trade team, while taking a wait-and-see stance about Trump’s plans to impose new tariffs on goods from other countries including China, Mexico ...
GENEVA — The World Trade Organization chief said Friday she's “eager” to work with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his trade team, while taking a wait-and-see stance about Trump's plans to impose new tariffs on goods from other countries including China, Mexico and Canada.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made the comments to reporters after member countries handed her a second four-year term, in a vote with no opposition.
The Geneva-based trade body's future is clouded by Trump's looming return to power in January in the U.S., home to the world's single biggest economy, because his pledges to slap unilateral tariffs on foreign goods entering the country could face challenges at the WTO.
“I think that I look very much forward to working with President Trump — with all the new people who will be appointed,” she said. «I’m eager for it.”
While Trump before his first term threatened to pull the U.S. out of the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala said there's a “general recognition that the organization needs to be supported» and pointed to U.S. interests in intellectual property protections and product safety fostered by the trade body.
“The WTO and its rules underpin 75 to 80% of global goods trade,” she said. Okonjo-Iweala expressed hopes to help strike a deal in the WTO that would phase out $22 billion in “harmful subsidies” in the fisheries industry that raise worries about damage to ocean fish stocks.
During his first term, the Trump administration largely bypassed
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