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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May25/11) Yerevan, 6 May (D. Ravi Kanth) — With the Trump administration having seemingly inflicted systemic shocks on various international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, there is mounting concern as to whether the United States should continue in those organizations where it is seen to be blatantly violating the core provisions of their rules, said people familiar with the development. Over the past three months, the Trump administration’s actions at the WTO continue to raise serious questions about its overall compliance with the global trade body’s rules, said people familiar with the development. On the one hand, the US has not paid its annual contribution of more than $21 million to the WTO, and it is currently listed under the organization’s administrative measures, along with eight other countries. At the same time, the US continues to impose allegedly unilateral tariffs on countries that raise serious questions about their compliance with the WTO’s rule-book. In disputes brought against the alleged unilateral tariffs, including the “reciprocal” tariffs, the US chose to justify them under national security considerations, knowing full well that several dispute panels had ruled against such emergency measures on one ground or the other, said people familiar with the disputes. According to a restricted document (WT/BFA/W/710) issued on 25 April, and seen by the SUNS, nine countries are listed under the WTO’s administrative measures as of 31 March 2025. The nine countries listed under Category I include Angola, Chile, Eswatini, Grenada, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Uganda, and the United States of America. (Category I relates to Members with one full year’s contribution outstanding at the end of the financial year.) “A significant part of the Administrative Measures relates to limiting the distribution of documents to Members in certain categories,” according to a previous restricted document (WT/BFA/W/141) issued by the WTO’s Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration (CBFA) on 2 February 2006. The delay in the US contribution to the WTO has seemingly raised serious concerns regarding the WTO’s activities. Though the WTO’s Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has not called out the US for the continued delay in its contribution, she has privately informed the WTO staff about the difficult fiscal situation and the need to settle for austerity through severe cuts in travel expenditure, said people familiar with the development. In document WT/BFA/W/710, it is stated unambiguously that “given [the] uncertainty surrounding the receipt of contributions, as well as the limited Working Capital Fund for the Director-General to use as a temporary measure to offset reduced contributions, the Secretariat has undertaken a series of significant steps to manage its 2025 operating budget.” Interestingly, while the DG has seemingly cut the travel budget of the staff, she continues to travel with her entourage of officials from one place to another, said a person familiar with the DG’s travel agenda. After returning from Washington DC where she is understood to have attended the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, the DG had traveled to Bahrain. She is now expected to travel to Korea and later Japan. Effectively, the DG has seemingly expended 70% of the total travel budget of the WTO, said another person, who asked not to be quoted. According to document WT/BFA/W/710, even the funds for the WTO’s upcoming 14th ministerial conference (MC14), to be held in Yaounde, Cameroon, in end-March 2026, are being severely reduced. US President Donald Trump’s Executive Order issued on 4 February 2025 states that within 180 days of the date of this order, the US Secretary of State, in consultation with the UN Ambassador, “shall conduct a review of all international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and provides any type of funding or other support, and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party, to determine which organizations, conventions, and treaties are contrary to the interests of the United States and whether such organizations, conventions, or treaties can be reformed.” Further, it states that “upon the conclusion of that review, the Secretary shall report the findings to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and provide recommendations as to whether the United States should withdraw from any such organizations, conventions, or treaties.” Consequently, there is seemingly a “gnawing worry” that the US will delay its annual contribution to the WTO until early August when it would decide on its next course of action regarding the matters/issues on which it has expressed unhappiness, said a trade envoy, who asked not to be quoted. Incidentally, the DG will complete her first term in office at the end of August and it remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will endorse her second term or block it on grounds that the DG’s reappointment process was allegedly “rigged”, the envoy said. Ms Okonjo-Iweala’s second four-year term is set to begin on 1 September 2025. Also, there is “a general mood of doom and gloom” as to whether the Trump administration, which has resorted to a spate of allegedly unilateral tariff measures against countries, will seek fundamental changes in the WTO’s rule-book for its continuation in the member-driven, rule-based global trade body, said several people who asked not to be quoted. UN REORGANIZATION The Trump administration’s actions concerning international organizations, beginning with the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Agreement on climate change, has seemingly induced a “seismic shock” about Washington’s continuation in the United Nations and its various bodies, said a person who is familiar with the developments at the UN. A news report by the Reuters news agency on 2 May has suggested that “the United Nations is considering a massive overhaul that would merge major departments and shift resources across the globe, according to an internal memo prepared by senior officials tasked with reforming the world body.” According to the Reuters news report, there are a set of “suggestions” to “consolidate dozens of UN agencies into four primary departments: peace and security, humanitarian affairs, sustainable development, and human rights.” It also said that there is a suggestion that proposes “consolidating the World Trade Organization – which is not a UN entity – with UN development agencies.” However, the WTO and its predecessor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were created independently of the UN. Therefore, there is no chance that the WTO will ever be merged with the UN, said a former trade envoy who asked not to be quoted. So far, UN officials and staff were not informed about the ongoing efforts at reorganization, said a person, who asked not to be quoted. However, the talk of reorganization within the UN bodies is reverberating in the corridors, including staff shifting out of offices in New York and Geneva because of high fixed costs for the staff, the person said. The way forward in the current scenario could be for countries to take collective action rather than making individual deals with the US, and they also need to step up in terms of funding the multilateral organizations and saving multilateralism for global peace and development, said a trade envoy, who asked not to be quoted. +
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