By Elishya Perera
WASHINGTON DC (CWBN)_United States President Donald Trump’s trade chief Robert Lighthizer says that the process to appoint a new Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should resume.
In his first international interview with BBC on Wednesday (Dec 16), Lighthizer noted that the organisation needs a leader “with real experience in trade”.
The two individuals who have qualified to the third and final round which would determine the next Director General of the WTO are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Yoo Myung-hee of the Republic of Korea. While the Okonjo-Iweala secured the overwhelming backing of the organisation’s 164 members, however, the Trump administration opposed to her appointment, and expressed preference for South Korea’s Trade Minister instead.
The Office of the US Trade Representative, said that the organisation “must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field”, adding that Myung-hee has “all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organisation”.
Lighthizer reiterated these views on Wednesday, as he confirmed that there is no way the Trump administration would support the former Nigerian finance minister in its remaining weeks in office.
Although the Director General of the organisation was expected to be appointed at the meeting which was scheduled to be held on November 9, the meeting was indefinitely postponed for “reasons including the health situation and current events”, a WTO document noted.
Nevertheless, trade experts say that President Trump’s defeat in the US Presidential Election may have led the member states to call for a delay in the WTO leadership race, with the intention of securing support from the United States for Okonjo-Iweala, after President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January next year.
However, if a new Director-General is not appointed before Biden’s inauguration, the process would likely be delayed for several months as a new trade team is formed and Lighthizer’s successor receives Congressional approval.
During a time when global trade has severely suffered owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, the WTO is in dire need for a leader in order to achieve meaningful change. Lighthizer says that the WTO has “failed to function as a negotiating body”, and is in need of a “massive reform” as a dispute-resolving Appellate Body.
“We need to start negotiating again, we need to start making headway. So, I’m glad you brought up the WTO, it’s been clearly a focus for us and to us it’s an organisation that started off as a good idea and basically isn’t functioning very well, but I think that can be sorted out also,” he said.
Former Director-General of the WTO, Roberto Azevêdo stepped down on 31st August 2020, a year before the expiry of his mandate, saying someone else would be better placed to deliver the needed reforms of the organisation.
