WTO members work to review trade regulator amid criticism of Trump
WTO members work to review trade regulator amid criticism of Trump
The complaints of President Trump About the World Trade Organization (WTO), US allies have sought ways to review the body before the US protest effectively paralyzes the global trade arbitrator by the end of next year.
In the larger effort, Canada is organizing a summit that will open Wednesday with a dozen other partners to get support for the changes that address Washington's criticism, including concerns that the WTO is not doing enough to publicize and penalize the trade distorted by government subsidies and intellectual weakness. -protections to property, Practices considered particularly common in China.
The Trump government also complains that the WTO gives too much flexibility to developing countries to avoid the rules that apply to more advanced economies, and has been too slow to update the rules for digital commerce.
Some of Washington's arguments resonate with other members. "If the WTO is not reforming, it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant, and that would be a disaster," Cecilia Malmstrom, head of commerce for the European Union, told the press earlier this month.
While the meetings are intended to accelerate the first serious debate on the restructuring of the WTO in a quarter of a century, the summit participants do not expect decisions from the two-day session. This is partly because neither the United States nor China, the two most important members of the WTO and the main protagonists of tensions within the body, were invited. That leaves uncertain the question of whether the slow-moving organization can reach consensus on the changes demanded by the US. UU At the pace that the US wants UU
Members are working against an informal deadline of December 2019. That is when the WTO legal system will stop unless the Trump administration vetoed by blocking the appointment of new judges in the Geneva court that measured commercial disputes among its 164 members.
Washington has used its veto power to reduce the size of the court from seven judges to three members, the minimum necessary to hear a case. The terms of two of the remaining judges expire on December 10, 2019. If they are not replaced, the WTO's "appellate body" will close effectively, leaving the organization's dispute resolution powers in limbo.
Under that scenario, "all cases potentially turn into a commercial war," warned Alan Wolff, deputy director general of the WTO, in a recent speech. "The state of nature applies."
While Mr. Trump has periodically threatened to take the United States out of the WTO completely, there is no sign that he is planning to do so in the short term. But his criticism has given a degree of urgency that members say they have not witnessed since the organization's founding in 1995. I know. UU They were the driving force behind the creation of the WTO during the heyday of globalization, promoting common and applicable rules that govern international trade.
Less trade
The World Trade Organization is reducing its growth forecast for world trade, as the new import limits spread across the world.
Growth in the volume of world trade compared to the previous year.
Mr. Trump has rejected the old consensus of American establishments that favors commercial globalization, which described at a Texas rally on Monday night as the "government of corrupt and power hungry globalists" who want "the world to do things right" and "not to worry so much about our country."
During the last two decades, the USA UU They have been the main defender of the organization. WTO advocates say that the agency's ability to arbitrate commercial struggles helped quell a trade war similar to the Great Depression during the 2008 financial crisis.
Its advisers argue that the WTO undermines US sovereignty and treats the United States unfairly. They accuse the court of commerce of judicial excess, unduly tying the hands of Washington to protect American companies from what they consider an unfair foreign competition.
Trump's complaints echo some of the previous administrations, though not so vociferous, and are shared in some way by US allies. UU As a result of Washington's pressure, Mr. Trump's "constructively disruptive leadership", as expressed by his representative at the WTO, Dennis Shea, in recent months has begun a series of review efforts.
The EU and Canada have published their own plans for the WTO review, and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, signed a joint statement with Mr. Trump at a White House meeting in July, promising " work closely with like-minded partners to reform the WTO. " and to address unfair business practices. " Japan has also been active, facilitating a joint push to update global trade rules with the US. UU and the EU on the sidelines of a WTO meeting in December.
This week's meeting in Ottawa will include a wide range of members, including Australia, Mexico, Kenya and Singapore. Canada's Minister of Commerce, Jim Carr, said in an interview that his strategy was to start the discussion with the "intermediate powers," to "maximize the possibilities of creating a critical mass that can be extended to others."
Beyond the agency's laborious decision-making process, another challenge will be to reach consensus in the current circumstances, since a central demand of the United States is for the WTO to come together to do more to qualify as illegal and punish many policies. Chinese commercials, a position in Beijing and its allies. It is unlikely that they will embrace.
Many countries "want to be intermediaries when, in fact, they really need to choose a lane," Shea said in a talk this month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Europeans reject that framework, emphasizing the need for Chinese support. To that end, Brussels persuaded Beijing in July to work on a separate WTO effort with the EU, positioning the 28-member bloc as a possible arbitrator between the two titans.
"The reform of the WTO can not be done against this or that partner," said an EU trade official. "We are in a privileged situation because we are part of all these different processes."
The big question that hangs over the WTO is how difficult is the line that the Trump government intends to take next year: if a serious debate is enough to lift the judicial blockade, or if a quick and concrete action is necessary.
"We are not going to let go of these important concerns for several more years," Shea said. When asked if the United States felt the urgency of keeping the WTO tribunals running next year, he delayed and said: "We'll see."
Write to Jacob M. Schlesinger in jacob.schlesinger@wsj.com, Paul Vieira in paul.vieira@wsj.com and Emre Peker in emre.peker@wsj.com
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