Exclusive | Jesus Seade: Mexico’s nominee for top WTO job vows to ‘bring US and China back to the table’
- Jesus Seade has been nominated to succeed Roberto Azevedo as director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) later this year
- The 73-year-old was Mexico’s chief negotiator for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), but denied his close ties with the US could see his candidacy scuppered by China
Jesus Seade, the Mexican candidate to lead the World Trade Organisation, has pitched himself as the “trade expert” who can bring both the United States and China back to the multilateral negotiating table.
“I think it's very important to bring [China and the US] to the table. I am convinced that for China, there're few things more important on the international scene than the strength of the WTO,” Seade told the South China Morning Post.
“If you bring in a politician to head the WTO, [the first discussion with the Europeans and the Americans on particular kinds of subsidies] will go over the head of a director general. You need somebody who is completely in touch with that stuff, but at the same time, a good negotiator and a familiar face, who knows the Chinese, the Europeans, the Africans, the Americans culturally. I am a global man and trade expert. That is what they need.”
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WTO nominee vows to bring US and China to negotiating table
Seade is currently undersecretary for North America within Mexico’s Foreign Ministry, but launched his candidacy for the WTO from his base in Hong Kong, where he has been riding out Mexico’s coronavirus lockdown with his family, who continue to be based in the city.