Blinkered US view on WTO corrected

A significant misperception of the World Trade Organization among policymakers in the United States is that the organization should be more reflective of the country's interests, a top official of the trade body said.

Angela Ellard, who has been the WTO's deputy director-general since June, said the Geneva-based body is made up of 164 members and independently makes decisions that sometimes don't serve US interests.

"Multilateralism is still really the only way to go when it comes to issues of the global commons," Ellard said.

"Until you see how the WTO works, in having everyone come together, everyone is a player and…some have more ability perhaps to influence others, but still at the end of the day, we are an organization of the members, and the members all have that equal standing," Ellard said at a webinar held by the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute.

Ellard defended the WTO's consensus-based system and asserted it strengthens buy-in among members, describing the system as "the heart and soul of the WTO". She said that under the consensus rule, all members have to agree on everything in order for an action to proceed.

It can be difficult, but once a decision gets that kind of support, it has the backing of everyone－a truly multilateral agreement, she said.

Ellard stressed the importance of gaining the members' trust, especially during trade negotiations. She said that the monitoring function of the WTO works well, as it has had several Trade Policy Review, or TPR, mechanisms recently, including those concerning China and Russia.

"This is a routine process that we go through. Every country has to sit down and explain itself and answer questions by other members," Ellard told the webinar. "The US will have its TPR next year. So that's a very important milestone, and I think it helps build trust."

But Ellard spoke of her disappointment that the WTO's appellate body "is no longer functioning".

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that "the WTO's dispute-settlement function is at risk of collapsing", because "the United States has blocked the appointment of new judges to the WTO's appellate body due to complaints over judicial activism at the WTO and concerns over US sovereignty".

'Unsuccessful efforts'

The center added: "Efforts to reform the dispute settlement system in response to US demands and pave the way for new appointments to the appellate body have been unsuccessful."

On Dec 10, 2019, the terms of two of the three remaining members of the appellate body expired "and the appellate body now lacks a quorum necessary to hear appeals, grinding the dispute settlement system to a halt and throwing into doubt the WTO's role in enforcing multilateral trade rules".

Ellard said the US has routinely blocked the appointment of new members to the body. On behalf of 121 of the 164 WTO members, Mexico has repeatedly made proposals to initiate the selection process for the six vacant seats for the body, but the US has rejected the proposals.

The WTO did reach a consensus this month when a group of 67 countries, including the US, China and members of the European Union, struck a deal on facilitating trade in services.

The countries, which account for just over a third of WTO members but represent 90 percent of global trade in services, concluded the accord after four years of negotiations.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called the deal "historic", pointing to estimates that it would lower the costs associated with the services trade by as much as $150 billion each year.

Agencies contributed to this story.