WTO Warns of Decline in Global Trade Under Multilateral Rules

The share of global trade conducted under WTO rules has dropped to 72% and could fall further, amid what is seen as the most significant disruption to the international trading system in eight decades, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Tuesday.

“We are witnessing the greatest shake-up of global trade rules in 80 years,” Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters at the start of her second term leading the Geneva-based organization. She added that it was “not surprising that some are questioning the multilateral trading system and its predictability,” while also pointing to signs of resilience.

Since the tariffs imposed under Donald Trump, the share of world trade conducted under the WTO’s most-favored-nation principle has declined from about 80%, according to the agency’s data. This principle requires WTO members to extend the same treatment to all other members.