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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has warned that the World Trade Organization will have only a “limited role” in future global policy after talks this week on reforming the body ended in failure, a signal of the body’s increasing marginalization.
The criticism follows Greer’s return to Washington from the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé, where four days of negotiations over the modernization of the WTO collapsed late on Sunday.
“I have always been skeptical of the value of the WTO, and this week’s conference confirmed that this organization will play only a limited role in future global trade policy efforts,” Greer said in a statement, adding that he was “disappointed by the lack of seriousness shown by many members.”
Talks on the WTO’s broader reform agenda, including efforts to tackle subsidies and implement agreements on digital trade and investment in developing countries, were stalled by a bitter battle over e-commerce tariffs.
The crucial meeting came as other members raised concerns about the Geneva-based body’s ability to tackle today’s challenges to the global trading system, with the EU’s trade commissioner warning it risked becoming irrelevant ahead of the Cameroon talks.
Although the US had hoped for an indefinite extension of a 28-year moratorium on e-commerce tariffs, this was blocked by Brazil and the meeting ended without consensus.
The body also failed to adopt a reform plan that ministers said was essential to modernize the WTO, which has been hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war and tensions caused by China’s $1 trillion trade surplus.
Greer called the moratorium’s expiration “extremely frustrating” and said the US would work outside the WTO on a so-called plurilateral agreement on e-commerce tariffs, with like-minded states implementing the deal among themselves.
He said the U.S. has received commitments from dozens of countries to reject tariffs on digital transmissions.
“If the WTO cannot achieve this common-sense goal, the United States will work with all interested partners outside the WTO to make it happen,” Greer said.
Diplomats in Cameroon said the US was willing to limit its demands to extending the e-commerce tariff pause for just a few years, but Brazil had refused to go beyond two years.
Greer also complained about the lack of trade ministers attending the meeting.
“I, along with many ministers, left my capital at a particularly busy time and traveled long distances to participate in this ministerial conference given its potential significance,” Greer said.
“I was disappointed that so few of my colleagues were present, despite their repeated claims that the WTO is ‘at the heart’ of the global trading system.”
