The selection of a new Director General of the World Trade Organization has plunged into uncertainty on Wednesday after the United States rejected the Nigerian woman, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, proposed as the global trade's next director-general. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a statement officially backing the only other remaining candidate, South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung-hee, praising her as a successful trade negotiator with the skills needed to lead the trade body at a “very difficult time” and describing Nigerian candidate as lacking technical knowledge of multilateral trade talks.
Just six days before the U.S. election in which trade is a hot topic, Washington struck another blow at the WTO, as U.S. President Donald Trump has described it's election as “horrible” and biased towards China. The WTO itself has called a meeting for Nov. 9, less than a week after the election, by which time it hopes to have secured full backing for Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The decision needs to be approved by consensus, however, meaning any of the 164 WTO members could block her appointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment