US Rejection Throws World Trade Body Leadership Race Into Confusion

Thursday, 29 October 2020Newsdesk

The World Trade Organization's bid to select a new leader was plunged into uncertainty on Wednesday after the United States rejected the Nigerian woman proposed as the global trade watchdog's next director-general. Just six days before the US. election in which trade is a hot topic, Washington struck another blow at the WTO, which US President Donald Trump has described as "horrible" and biased towards China.

New Delhi, 29 October 2020

The Trump administration has already paralysed the WTO's role as global arbiter on trade by blocking appointments to its appeals panel. Now it threatens to render it leaderless for weeks or months to come. The WTO itself has called a meeting for Nov. 9, less than a week after the election, by which time it hopes to have secured full backing for Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The decision needs to be approved by consensus, however, meaning any of the 164 WTO members could block her appointment. After weeks of consultations, three WTO ambassadors, the "troika" charged with finding a successor to Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, announced at a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday that the former Nigerian finance minister should be the next chief as she had secured cross-regional backing.

Source -NDTV