World Trade Organization

September 2, 2025 7:43 PM

Tariffs cause ‘unprecedented’ disruption to global trade rules, WTO chief says

The share of global trade done on WTO terms has fallen to 72% and could fall further, amid the biggest disruption to the international trading system in the past 80 years, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday. Since U.S. President Donald Trump started imposing higher import tariffs this year on most of the United States' trading partners, the share of global trade conducted under the WTO's 'most favoured nation' (MFN) terms is down from about 80%, WTO data shows....

February 6, 2025 12:41 PM

China challenges Trump tariffs at WTO, package shippers warn of chaos

China filed a World Trade Organization complaint on Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump's new 10% tariff on Chinese imports and his cancellation of a duty-free exemption for low-value packages, arguing the actions are "protectionist" and break WTO rules. Beijing's request for U.S. trade consultations came as confusion reigned among shippers and retailers over Trump's closure of the "de minimis" exemption for package imports valued under $800 and widely used by e-commerce firms includi...

November 12, 2024 4:58 PM

WTO may seek to reappoint chief ahead of Trump presidency

The World Trade Organization plans a special meeting of its top decision-making body later this month where a call could be made on the reappointment of its Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a document showed on Tuesday. Trade sources said such a meeting appeared to be a route that could fast-track the months-long appointment process to avoid any risk of it getting blocked by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose teams and allies have criticised both Okonjo-Iweala and the trade watchdog ...