(Abu Dhabi) The WTO ministerial negotiations on the reform of the organization’s mechanism which allows countries to resolve their trade disputes were the subject of a diplomatic standoff on Wednesday between the United States and India.
The 13e Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is supposed to end at the end of the day on Thursday, but no longer many people seem to believe it as the negotiations are progressing painfully due to numerous differences.
The 164 members of the organization – who make decisions by consensus – must decide in the evening whether to allow one or two more days to obtain results, in particular on fishing, agriculture, electronic commerce and WTO reform.
Barely arriving at the ministerial, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, whose country plays a central role in all negotiations, put pressure on the United States on Wednesday by explaining that his country is not considering “finalize” new agreements as long as Washington blocks the appellate body of the dispute settlement mechanism.
“It is important that the first issue we resolve is the appellate body,” he said in an interview, asserting that “the entire functioning of the WTO is currently somewhat at a standstill “.
The dispute resolution system has been paralyzed since the end of 2019 following Washington’s blocking of the renewal of judges of the appellate body, a practice initiated under the administration of Barack Obama and which Donald Trump and Joe Biden continued.
In 2022, the ministers of the 164 members of the WTO therefore agreed to hold discussions on the dispute settlement system “with a view to having a fully operational system by 2024”.
But discussions in recent months at WTO headquarters in Geneva have made no progress on the appellate body, creating some impatience among some countries, such as India.
“No momentum”
This reform is a “difficult issue,” but the dynamic of the negotiations is “constructive, positive and moderate,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters.
However, “there is still work to do,” she added, after a working session.
According to Mme Tai, a “convergence is emerging” on several points of the reform.
But, she noted, “there is another set of questions that will be more difficult and take more time to address, including what to do with the appeals mechanism and how to have access to a mechanism that does not repeat the problems of the previous appellate body.”
The United States wants judges’ decisions to respect the national “security” of countries. They also criticized the appellate body for overinterpreting WTO rules.
He was “extremely activist, extremely powerful, more powerful even than the member (countries),” argued Mr.me Tai.
For many, this ministerial is seen as the last chance to advance the reform of the organization, before a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House who, during his first term, had done everything to torpedo it while launching a trade war with China.
“There is no momentum to relaunch discussions” on the appeals body, a source close to the negotiations observed on Wednesday.
The European Union, for its part, would like the outcome of the ministerial to “bring out the feeling of urgency” that there is on this subject, declared a European official.
“It takes political will… especially for a file as bogged down as this,” he said, asserting that the EU continues to support a two-tier dispute settlement mechanism.
reference: www.lapresse.ca