US-China trade war casts long shadow over WTO leadership race
- Interviews with the five remaining candidates for the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) top job reveal reluctance to speak in depth on the biggest issue in global trade
- Most talk of creating an environment for US-China to solve their issues at the WTO, but the tense geopolitical situation is stifling debate
As the race for leadership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) moves into its second phase, candidates are walking on eggshells, with the US-China trade war casting a long shadow over the highly-politicised proceedings.
The five remaining nominees have survived a “gruelling” confessional period, in which they were interviewed by representatives of the trade body’s 164 members, with each attempting not to alienate any of the powerful triumvirate of China, the European Union and the United States.
All five candidates also gave interviews to the South China Morning Post, which revealed varying degrees of reluctance to engage in substantive conversations on the fraught geopolitical situation facing global trade, but particularly the US-China rivalry.
According to analysts, it would be difficult for a candidate to become director general if any of the major powers came out against the candidacy, which helps explain why there is less than a cigarette paper’s width between many of their public positions on controversial issues.
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These include China’s subsidies to state-owned industrial firms and its continued developing-country status at the Geneva body – major grievances not just for the US, but also the EU and Japan.
In recognition of the political minefield they are facing, one of the eight original candidates remarked privately they could either say what they wanted and get culled, or withhold their opinions and hope to keep everyone happy. “It’s boring for the press, but what can candidates do?”
Another complained the race has been “too politicised” and rather than being an in-depth examination of the issues blocking the WTO’s negotiating and dispute settlement functions, it has been “a contest on geography and background”.
Debate surrounding the contest has become one of geopolitical calculus: which candidate’s situation offends the fewest of the major members.