Unsurprisingly reappointed Friday as head of the WTO, Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is “looking forward” to working with Donald Trump, considering it “premature” to comment on his threats of customs duties while calling for respect for international trade rules .
The first woman and first African to head the World Trade Organization, she was the only candidate for succession. At the age of 70, she was re-elected by consensus, to applause, by the 166 members of the organization, for a second four-year term whose priority will be to prevent the world from sinking into protectionism.
“We fully intend to get to work immediately,” she said at a press conference.
His first term ends at the end of August 2025 but the renewal procedure was brought forward at the request of African countries, to facilitate preparations for the next WTO ministerial conference in Cameroon in 2026.
The unstated objective is to “speed up the process because they did not want Donald Trump's team to veto his nomination like four years ago,” believes the former spokesperson for the OMC, Keith Rockwell, researcher at the Hinrich Foundation, taking up a criticism made by other observers.
The support for his second term “is not so much” due to the fact “that everyone likes Ngozi”, comments a source close to the discussions, but countries feared that Trump would “slow things down afterwards”.
At the WTO, the person responsible for the procedure, the Norwegian ambassador, Petter Olberg, assured the press on Friday that “there is no reason to say that this is not a legitimate process “.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said she found the criticism “a little strange,” saying she “looked forward to working with President Trump.”
– “creative approach” –
In the meantime, the American Trade Representative (USTR) welcomed its renewal.
“The United States appreciates the work she has accomplished over the past four years… She has demonstrated a strong commitment to the work and the future of the organization,” he said. said Katherine Tai, in a press release.
Even before his arrival at the White House, Donald Trump, who during his first term had threatened to leave the WTO, casts his shadow over the organization.
The US president-elect has reignited concerns about all-out trade wars, in particular threatening China, Canada and Mexico to increase customs duties as soon as he comes to power in January.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala considered it “premature” on Friday to comment on these announcements.
“We should approach things with a very constructive and creative approach,” she assured, while stressing that it was necessary to ensure that “we do not find ourselves in a situation in which commercial disputes harm the functioning ” of international trade.
– “save what can be saved” –
The American billionaire had already triggered trade clashes with China and Europe during his first term (2017-2021).
“The festival of customs duties that he is now announcing shows that he does not intend to respect any rules. In fact, the United States would not need to withdraw from the WTO, it frees itself from the rules of the WTO, with a brutal decoupling from China”, observes Elvire Fabry, researcher at the European Jacques Delors Institute.
It will be a matter of “saving what can be saved, and convincing that there is not a huge alternative to the WTO rules” but “it will be a very difficult mandate with little certainty about what will happen”, underlines another source close to the matter.
When she arrived at the WTO, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala had already found a weakened organization. She tried to breathe new life into it around climate and health issues and managed to secure an important agreement on the ban on harmful fishing subsidies.
But pressure for reform of the WTO has increased, especially since the appellate body of the dispute settlement system, which the first Trump administration destroyed by blocking the appointment of judges, remains stationary.
On Friday, Okonjo-Iweala called on countries to conclude pending negotiations so that ministers at the ministerial in Cameroon can focus on two key issues: agriculture and reform of the dispute settlement system.
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