The Trade Representative of USA, Katherine Tai, visiting Geneva, raised the possibility of reactivating the dispute settlement body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose appeal court was blocked by the Donald Trump administration.
Former President Trump was against the WTO and blocked the body that examines appeals, leaving it inoperative since December 2020 due to vacant positions.
The administration of Joe Biden he intends to involve the United States in multilateral organizations, but is in favor of reforming the WTO to make it more effective.
“We believe that we can achieve reform if we create a more flexible WTO, if we change the way we approach problems collectively, and if we restore the deliberative role of the organization,” Katherine Tai said in a speech in Geneva.
“I am pleased to hear that Ms Tai delivered a speech in which she strongly supports the need for the WTO to reform in order to fulfill its role in supporting the multilateral trading system,” said WTO Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. he was in Washington.
Tai recalled that the objective of the body to resolve differences is to “facilitate solutions” found in a consensual manner among the members.
“It is telling that over time, ‘dispute settlement’ has become synonymous with litigation,” he declared, insisting that disputes accumulate and are “costly.”
“We all recognize the importance of the WTO and we all want it to be successful,” he said.
The appeals body is made up of seven members who can confirm, modify or reverse the legal findings of a panel. The United States was already criticizing him long before Trump came to power.
The WTO director hopes that the problem will be resolved before the next ministerial conference to be held this year.
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