The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, defended this Saturday, November 22, that the World Trade Organization must be placed once again at the center of the global trading system, having called for “a deep and comprehensive reform” without taboos.
The proposal was made to G20 leaders at the summit taking place this weekend in Johannesburg, South Africa, where global challenges of trade, debt, development, geopolitics and energy transition are debated, according to Efe.
“Cooperation is essential. Using dependencies as weapons only creates losers. We need to return to a rules-based system, a system that allows us to face today’s challenges, from the clean and digital transition to fair competition”, he stated, in the speech cited by the Spanish news agency.
The official wants the WTO to be “at the center of this system”, but warned that this “requires a deep and comprehensive reform” – in which the European Union (EU) is willing to participate “without taboos”.
Von der Leyen proposed “building coalitions” to move forward with reform and is starting a dialogue with the 12 members of the Global and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
In June, the president of the EC had already mentioned the possibility of reforming the WTO together with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to address the difficulties faced by the organization.
The WTO arbitration system for resolving disputes has been paralyzed since 2019, following the refusal of the United States of America to appoint judges to the Appellate Body, which led to the blocking of several disputes.
Von der Leyen also warned of uncertainty in global markets, which is “exceptionally high”, which could trigger a freeze in investments.
“Addressing global imbalances requires coordinated and cooperative action: with the help of our international institutions, the IMF, the WTO and the World Bank, we must carry out a genuine assessment” and analyze their causes, he added.
In the opinion of the president of the community executive, countries must “put order in their own house” to “rebalance excess savings”, having also highlighted the expansion of the European network with agreements with Mercosur, Mexico and Indonesia.