The WTO head warns that war, uncertainty, and instability are weighing down the global economy

According to the head of the World Trade Organisation, the world economy is being burdened by war, uncertainty, and instability.

United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi (AP) — The head of the World Trade Organisation urged the bloc to embrace reform on Monday, warning that war, uncertainty, and instability are weighing down the global economy and that new obstacles may arise from elections in almost half of the world's population.

Despite pressure from the US and other countries, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala tried to give her organisation some credit when it hosted its binational summit in the United Arab Emirates.

However, she wasn't sugarcoating the dangers that lie ahead, as rising costs for gasoline, food, and other necessities pinch people's wallets and fuel political frustration. This year, voters will be affected by people's general sense of unease about the future, she said.

The U.S. presidential election on November 5th may be the most important of all for the WTO. The former president, Donald Trump, is campaigning once more. He has threatened to remove the United States from the World Trade Organisation and has imposed tariffs, or fees on imported goods, on both friends and enemies. Global trade might be disrupted once more if Trump wins.

While not specifically mentioning Trump, Okonjo-Iweala issued a warning about attacks on multilaterism.

Since it was established 75 years ago, the multilateral trading system—which I refer to as a global public good—continues to be misunderstood and attacked, she added.

However, the United States has serious misgivings about the WTO, even in the event that President Joe Biden is re-elected. The United States has banned appointments to its appeals court for the previous three administrations, and it is currently closed for business. Washington claims that too many times when the WTO courts have rendered decisions, they have overreached themselves.

China continues to identify as a developing nation, as it did when joining the WTO in 2001, a move that has drawn criticism from the United States as well. Beijing is accused by Washington, Europe, and other quarters of illegally impeding access to developing markets and stealing technology or pressuring international corporations to do so. The United States claims that China oversupplies global markets with low-cost steel, aluminium, and other goods.

During their meeting this week in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the member nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will talk about agricultural issues, extending a halt on tariffs on digital products like films and video games, and a deal to prevent subsidies that lead to overfishing.

Comoros and Timor-Leste became new members of the WTO on Monday during the inaugural session, raising the total number of countries in the organisation to 166.

However, challenges still face the organisation and the global economy, especially given that different countries are still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic in different ways.

Although Okonjo-Iweala mentioned the continuous impediments to commerce in the Red Sea caused by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, she did not address Israel's battle against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A new source of delays and inflationary pressure is the disruption of shipping in vital waterways like the Red Sea and the Panama Canal, the speaker stated.

Major decisions at the WTO require consensus, which means that countries must actively vote for ideas to be implemented. This voting structure is another problem for the organisation.

If we thought the world looked tough in mid-2022, when we were slowly emerging from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine had shaken food and energy security, we are in an even-tougher place today, Okonjo-Iweala said.