Global Trade: US lobbies for WTO reform

World
Europe

01:56

As a trade war between the US and China escalates, there's growing concern for the World Trade Organization's future. Its members haven't come up with a plan to reform it. CGTN's Owen Fairclough has more.

The World Trade Organization currently is supposed to have the last word on global trade - from promoting zero tariffs to refereeing disputes. But tit-for-tat trade battles, between the US and its biggest trade partners, risk leaving the group sidelined. And Washington has a major gripe with an organisation it helped create.

DENNIS SHEA US AMBASSADOR TO WTO "China which is the second-largest economy in the world claims developing economy status at the WTO. Five of the six countries with the largest GDP per capita claim 'developing-country' status."

That status, for those members, means they can continue to subsidize exports and impose tariffs to protect exporters while their economies develop.

The Trump administration says that's unfair and led to it starting the current trade war with China.

China, for its part, says it is eliminating subsidies and believes in open trade. But Washington is also unhappy with how the WTO settles disputes, having used its veto to block new judges to its appeals panel.

DENNIS SHEA US AMBASSADOR TO WTO "The EU wants to make the appellate body less accountable, in our view, by giving the appellate secretariat more resources, by lengthening their term to 6-8 years, by making them full-time jobs and this goes in the precise opposite direction of what the US is calling for. The US is calling for more accountability."

And if WTO members are deadlocked on reform, so are the US and China in a trade war that is now impacting global growth. Owen Fairclough, CGTN.