Geneva Summit Concludes With Trade Accords On Fisheries, Vaccines, Food Safety, AND WTO Reform
June 17, 2022—Delegates at the World Trade Organization reached multiple deals on trade this week.
At the conclusion of an in-person ministerial summit held in Geneva, the WTO announced agreements on fisheries subsidies, intellectual property, digital trade, rules for COVID-19 vaccines, food safety and agriculture, and WTO reform.
“The outcomes demonstrate that the WTO is, in fact, capable of responding to the emergencies of our time,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “They show the world that WTO members can come together, across geopolitical fault lines, to address problems of the global commons, and to reinforce and reinvigorate this institution.”
The WTO released a document summarizing the conclusions reached at the Geneva Summit.
WTO Has ‘Lost Its Effectiveness’
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, described the outcomes as a “lowest common denominator.” Speaking with the Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center this morning, Portman said the WTO had “lost its effectiveness” by becoming a body for “too much litigation.” He complained that one or two countries in the 164-member organization can block agreements that have a consensus among most members.
Speaking in the same forum, U.S. Senator Chris Coons, D-Delaware, added that the WTO “is long overdue for progress.”
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