WTO reform deal unlikely to be reached at next major conference: ambassador

[GENEVA] Countries are making progress on reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO), but will fall short of clinching a deal at a major meeting early next year, the ambassador leading the talks said in a confidential document.

Observers say reforms at the 30-year-old trade watchdog are urgently needed, with some believing the future of the organisation is at stake.

The WTO told Reuters it does not comment on the positions of individual members, pointing to comments made by its director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in the Financial Times, that members should use the current crisis to reform and modernise the rule book.

In particular, members accept the need to improve decision-making, as the consensus rule – whereby all 166 members must agree to pass new trade deals – has gridlocked negotiations for years, blocking even those that enjoy near universal support.

In the Dec 12 document seen by Reuters, Norway’s WTO ambassador Petter Olberg wrote that the range of ideas for reforming decision-making meant that the issue cannot be resolved at a ministerial meeting in March 2026.

However, he said progress was being made and ministers meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon should agree on a framework to move forward.

The US voiced frustration in a communication sent to members that blockages in the consensus-based system were stopping members from joining plurilateral agreements.

These deals allow groups of interested members to strike deals among themselves, with an option for others to sign on later.

It warned that this threatened the organisation’s viability and could drive countries to negotiate new deals outside it.

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The US also called for reform discussions to address one of the WTO’s core principles – Most Favoured Nation (MFN) – which requires members to treat others equally. It said MFN was designed for an era where trade partners were expected to adopt open, market-oriented trade policies.

“That expectation was naive, and that era has passed,” it said in a statement.

“If the WTO does not reform by making tangible improvements in those areas that are central to its mission, it will continue its path toward irrelevancy,” the US said in the communication.

A diplomatic source cautioned that the US’ position was not widely supported by members.

“The US views on WTO reform are far from those of most members, and even challenge the WTO’s purpose and core principles. Simply put, without MFN, there’s no real multilateralism,” the source told Reuters.

Since US President Donald Trump began imposing higher import tariffs this year on most trading partners, the share of global trade conducted under the MFN terms is down from about 80 per cent to 72 per cent, WTO data shows. REUTERS