Okonjo-Iweala Given 2nd Term as WTO Chief as Trump’s Return Looms Over Trade Body’s Future

FILE - Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), speaks during the panel discussion at the WTO’s Presidential Lecture Series, at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

By JAMEY KEATEN

8:27 AM EST, November 29, 2024

GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization chief said Friday she’s “eager” to work with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his trade team, while taking a wait-and-see stance about Trump’s plans to impose new tariffs on goods from other countries including China, Mexico and Canada.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made the comments to reporters after member countries handed her a second four-year term, in a vote with no opposition.

The Geneva-based trade body’s future is clouded by Trump’s looming return to power in January in the U.S., home to the world’s single biggest economy, because his pledges to slap unilateral tariffs on foreign goods entering the country could face challenges at the WTO.

“I think that I look very much forward to working with President Trump — with all the new people who will be appointed,” she said. “I’m eager for it.”

While Trump before his first term threatened to pull the U.S. out of the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala said there’s a “general recognition that the organization needs to be supported” and pointed to U.S. interests in intellectual property protections and product safety fostered by the trade body.

“The WTO and its rules underpin 75 to 80% of global goods trade,” she said. Okonjo-Iweala expressed hopes to help strike a deal in the WTO that would phase out $22 billion in “harmful subsidies” in the fisheries industry that raise worries about damage to ocean fish stocks.

During his first term, the Trump administration largely bypassed WTO rules by imposing tariffs on steel and other goods from countries including China and even U.S. allies.

On Monday, Trump vowed sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, as well as China, as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.

Trump said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.

Such tariffs, if imposed, could face a challenge through the WTO’s dispute resolution process, though its body that hears appeals is not operating — largely because of U.S. unwillingness to let new members be appointed to it.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister who also has U.S. citizenship, took office in 2021 as the first woman and first African to hold the job of WTO chief.

Her second term will officially begin next September.

“Until we get specifics in terms of what is planned, I think it would be a bit premature to try to pronounce on these issues,” she said, referring to Trump’s plans.

“I think we should wait ... for actual policies,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “And we’re very much looking forward to working in a productive fashion.”

The WTO’s 166 members take decisions by consensus, meaning that any one country can block them.

JAMEY KEATEN

Keaten is the chief Associated Press reporter in Geneva. He previously was posted in Paris and has reported from Afghanistan, the Middle East, North Africa and across Europe.