The WTO is under threat from the Trump administration

FOR Roberto Azevêdo, its director-general, the WTO is a “hostage of its own success”. For President Donald Trump it is “a disaster”. Mr Trump would not be alone in balking at Mr Azevêdo’s formulation, meant to manage down expectations for the WTO’s two-yearly ministerial meeting in Argentina later this month (see article). The WTO has not achieved a big breakthrough in its mission of trade liberalisation for more than two decades. Its last big round of trade talks, the Doha Development Agenda, became the Jarndyce v Jarndyce of trade diplomacy; in 2015 it was quietly put out of its misery.

If only a disappointing record were the biggest problem for the WTO. America has had fraught relations with it for years; under Mr Trump, frustration has turned to aggression. America feels that China, the world’s biggest...Continue reading