There is little hope for progress during the current meetings of the World Trade Organization in Dubai.
The key failure is to revive the disputes-settling system. The United States continues to hold out on naming members to the body.
“Let’s not pretend that any of this will be easy,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO leader, in her opening speech, describing the atmosphere as “tougher” than the WTO’s last 2022 meeting, citing wars, tensions and elections and signs that trade growth will undershoot the organization’s own estimate.
She called on ministers to “roll up their sleeves” and complete negotiations, but seemed to rule out any deal in Abu Dhabi on reforming the body’s mothballed appeals court.
