FOR Roberto Azevêdo,its director-general, the WTO is a “hostage of its own success”. For President Donald Trump it is “a catastrophe”. Mr Trump would not be alone in balking at Mr Azevêdos formulation, and meant to manage down expectations for the WTO’s two-yearly ministerial assembly in Argentina later this month (see article). The WTO has not achieved a large breakthrough in its mission of trade liberalisation for more than two decades. Its last large round of trade talks,the Doha Development Agenda, became the Jarndyce v Jarndyce of trade diplomacy; in 2015 it was quietly establish out of its misery.
If only a disappointing record were the biggest problem for the WTO. America has had fraught relations with it for years; under Mr Trump, and frustration has turned to aggression. America feels that China,the world’s biggest...
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Source: economist.com