In battle for WTO leadership, the real fight is against paralysis of the global trade system

In the face of US-China tensions, Trump’s ‘America First’ unilateralism and the economic maelstrom whipped up by Covid-19, the WTO’s new leader will be challenged to lead the charge in championing the benefits of multilateralism and free trade

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former finance minister of Nigeria, is one of two women in the running to become the next director general of the WTO. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 12 Jul 2020Updated: 8:34pm, 12 Jul 2020

It was 1992. I had been sitting for some time staring out over Lake Geneva, waiting to meet Arthur Dunkel, director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, horse-trader-in-chief for the Uruguay Round negotiations on trade liberalisation and on the creation of the World Trade Organisation. His assistant had popped in several times to apologise for the delay.

At last, the genial Swiss diplomat rushed through the door, the shoulder of his suit torn and his shirt collar askew: “My apologies … Trade negotiations can be difficult, but South Korean farmers are the toughest of them all.”

Today, Dunkel is but one of a long queue of photos on the wall of the Centre William Rappard, the WTO’s headquarters set on the tranquil shores of Lake Geneva. Since he stepped down in 1993, there have been six WTO directors general, and all have struggled either to make their mark, or to build on the foundations laid by Dunkel during more than a decade of footslogging to complete the Uruguay Round.

With Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevedo stepping down prematurely next month with virtually no trade liberalising achievements to his name during a six-year tenure, the battle is on to appoint a successor. And the stakes could not be higher. After six years of being throttled by a sceptical United States, culminating last December in the strangulation of the WTO’s dispute settlement process, the time has come for the WTO to do or die.

WTO director general Roberto Azevedo attends a press conference in Geneva on December 10 last year. Azevedo will step down next month after a six-year tenure, with no trade liberalising achievements to his name. Photo: AFP

In the face of the “America First” unilateralism of the Trump administration, the WTO’s new leader will be challenged to lead the charge in defending multilateralism and championing the benefits of free trade and investment. And as the world economy continues to plunge into its deepest recession in a century, the WTO’s success will make a huge difference in the pain we will feel, and the pace of recovery.