WTO DG to step down a year early as downturn looms

Special Desk

When the world is focusing upon revival of the economy amid coronavirus spread here comes a news from the World Trade Organization. Roberto Azevedo, head of the WTO has said he will step down a year earlier than planned. This comes at a crucial moment for the global economy.

Azevedo’s surprise departure comes as the WTO faces the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and more significantly criticism from US President Donald Trump. Global trade has slumped and the world is braced for the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Trump has accused the WTO of treating America unfairly.

Though Azevedo said his decision for the early departure as the WTO’s director-general was a personal matter and that it was in the best interests of the organisation. “WTO may not be perfect, but it is indispensable all the same. It is what keeps us from a world where the law of the jungle prevails, at least as far as trade is concerned”, he said.

Trump administration has repeatedly accused the global trade watchdog of having strayed from its purpose to liberalise and protect markets, and that conditions around China’s entry into the organisation in 2001 have led to millions of American job losses.

Asked about Azevedo’s exit, Trump, said he was “OK” with it. “We’ve been treated very badly. They treat China as a developing nation. Therefore China gets a lot of the benefits that the US doesn’t”, he said.

Washington’s dispute with the WTO has seen it block the appointment of judges to the organisation’s top court, called the Appellate Body, since December 2019. It means it has too few officials to rule on major trade disputes between countries.