Okonjo-Iweala given 2nd term as WTO chief as Trump’s return looms over trade body’s future

By The Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Member countries of the World Trade Organization agreed Friday to give Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala a second four-year term.

The move by the Geneva-based trade body comes as its future is clouded by the looming return to power of President-elect Donald Trump in the United States, home to the world’s single biggest economy.

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.

Trump has announced plans to impose tariffs on goods from other countries after he takes office in January.

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.

On Monday, Trump sent shockwaves across the nation’s northern and southern borders, vowing 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.

In a pair of posts on his Truth Social site, 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.

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