WTO chief Okonjo-Iweala reinstated for second term as trade wars loom

By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) – World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed for a second term at a special meeting on Friday, the trade watchdog said, meaning her tenure will coincide with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration.

Analysts expect the road ahead for the three-decade-old WTO will be challenging and most likely characterised by trade wars, with Trump, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20, threatening hefty tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister who made history in 2021 by becoming the WTO’s first female and first African director-general, has broad backing among its members. She announced in September that she would run again, aiming to complete “unfinished business”.

No other candidates ran against her.

Trade sources said the meeting created a means of fast-tracking her appointment process to avoid any risk of it being blocked by Trump, whose teams and allies have criticised both Okonjo-Iweala and the WTO in the past.

In 2020, his administration gave its support to a rival candidate and sought to block her first term. She secured U.S. backing only when President Joe Biden succeeded Trump in the White House in January 2021.

Even in the Biden era, WTO negotiations have made limited progress although a handful of deals were struck in Geneva in 2022. Efforts to revamp the WTO’s dispute settlement system, brought to its knees under Trump due to U.S. opposition to judge appointments, have so far failed to deliver ahead of an end-December deadline.

Many predict that the WTO will be a theatre where mounting trade tensions between the U.S. and China will play out, with Trump’s new trade team expected to challenge Beijing’s official developing country status at the WTO that critics say gives it unfair advantages.

However, some analysts said there was an opportunity for Okonjo-Iweala to keep the WTO relevant by using it as a forum to address trade tensions.

“We see an opportunity to advance pragmatic solutions through the WTO to address common trade frictions – including through coalitions of the willing where necessary,” John Denton, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, told Reuters.