(7 minutes reading)
· Is the US playing a spoilt sport while applying veto against the appointment of a former Nigerian Finance Minister and a former senior functionary of the World Bank, who now (2019) acquired the US citizenship -Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as director general of WTO?
· A number of countries approved her candidature including most of the countries in the European Union
· There are reports that the reasons for the Trump Administration playing havoc with Okonjo-Iweala candidature is because she is too close to pro-trade internationalists lobby in Washington like Robert Zoellick, a former US trade representative
· They worked together when Robert Zoellick was president of the World Bank. That perhaps would not have gone well with the Trump camp
Undeniably, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is in the process of churning. The world trade watch dog has weathered many criticisms, doubts about its relevance in the present world trade regime and of course, against the quality of its rulings. The most vociferous critic was the US and its present president, Donald Trump.
Trump has made public some of his reservations about the WTO. Is it because the US could not influence the body the way in which it wanted? That may be a debatable point. But it is no secret how President Trump frowned at some of the decisions, when it went against the US interests. That is the case with most of the countries including the emerging countries. In recent years, a growing number of cases have gone against the so-called emerging economies like India and China. If they harp the same level of bitterness towards the world’s trading watchdog, things would come to a naught.
Is the US playing a spoilt sport while applying veto against the appointment of former Nigerian Finance Minister and a former senior functionary of the World Bank, who now (2019) acquired the US citizenship -Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as director general of WTO? Okonjo-Iweala, 66, a two time finance minister of Nigeria, also has wide experience working at international governance bodies as a former managing director of the World Bank and as a chair at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
The dramatic developments have only a few parallels. Everything was going in favor of her to assume the charge of the World Trade Organization. A number of countries approved her candidature including most of the countries in the European Union. A few Baltic States, some days before the close door meeting to find a consensus, objected to her candidature. Many thought it was a minor hiccup that could be ironed out since some of the small countries can play their balls to get concessions from multilateral organizations..
However, after the meeting for hammering the consensus, narratives changed so also the discourse. Instead of getting a firm confirmation and announcement of her name as the successor to the WTO, as was widely expected, the WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell summed up the gist of the closed door meeting in an equivocal manner that the candidate that had the best chance of attaining a consensus of the membership is Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and added that consultations on the way forward would start immediately.
Did the consensus elude on her candidature overnight? That is a simplistic assumption going by the recent positions taken by the US in a few other things. An opposite view was taken by the US in the case of appointment of President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr Akinwumi “Akin” Adesina, who is also incidentally a Nigerian. He was the only candidate in the fray since all African countries veered around him to give him another go. Because of the US veto, mandated by its share in the capital base of the multilateral funding agency (AfDB), election did take place and he was elected unanimously. The US veto served only for circumventing the consensus.
A rundown of the present stalemate also should be discerned. A group of ambassadors of WTO earlier nn the day of election, proposed Okonjo-Iweala as the first woman and African to head the 25-year organization. She was endorsed by ECOWAS as other African candidates were either withdrawn or asked by the respective countries to withdraw. The idea was to have a well qualified African woman, who is well versed in the international trading norms to head the organization. She perfectly fitted the bill.
The United States had other plans. The United States’ WTO representative Dennis Shea took to the floor at the consensus meeting to insist that South Korea’s candidate remained a contender and that Washington will not recognize Okonjo-Iweala as the consensus candidate for appointment as director-general. What does it mean? By import, it means that the candidature of the South Korean, who is also a trade expert and an important functionary of her country should not be brushed aside. It also signals that the US wants the WTO chief post should toe in line with its policies and that way indicating that unilateralism and protectionism should have some relevance at the crucial juncture when some developed countries are going through a difficult growth trajectory, particularly in the aftermath of the US-China trade war.
Hidden in that logic is the United States’ much repeated assessment that WTO is turning out to be a forum for the developing and emerging economies. Trump was on record that if India and China can bag concessions under the WTO, what prevents the US from getting the same consideration. Also, the US, which is also shared by other developed countries , feels that in recent days the voice of the developing world is more heard in the trade negotiations though it is only a myopic view since there are layers of appellate bodies in the WTO before reaching finality on s decision. Also, it is a fact that a number of decisions have gone against the interest of the developing countries.
If it’s not possible for the general council to agree on a consensus candidate, WTO members can consider the possibility of recourse to vote as a last resort . For that, it has to adopt a procedure to be determined at that time. Admittedly, such a development would be unprecedented for the WTO. If that takes place if the last ditch effort to cobble up a consensus, all eyes will be on the type of procedure for voting will be laid down. Will the support extended by most of the countries in the EU dissipate at the instance of the US?
In the meantime, there are reports that the reasons for the Trump Administration playing havoc with Okonjo-Iweala candidature is because she is too close to the pro-trade internationalists lobby in Washington like Robert Zoellick, a former US trade representative. They worked together when Robert Zoellick was president of the World Bank. That perhaps would not have gone well with the Trump camp.
Will that get blown over with the coming US elections is something that one should wait and watch. Till that time who is going to be the successor to Roberto Azevedo, who in May announced his decision to step down from the WTO at the end of August, a year before his term ended, is a trillion dollar question.
