US Committed to WTO and Wants It to Succeed, Trade Representative Tai Says

GENEVA—Top U.S. trade negotiator Katherine Tai on Thursday affirmed the Biden administration’s commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying consensus was possible on several trade and health proposals at a major meeting next month. The 25-year-old global trade body is facing questions about its relevance and director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is under pressure to deliver quick reforms and clinch its first multilateral trade deal in years at the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 meeting. “The Biden-Harris administration believes that trade—and the WTO—can and should be a force for good that encourages a race to the top and addresses global challenges as they arise,” Tai said in a speech in her first trip to the WTO’s host city of Geneva, Switzerland. “We all recognize the importance of the WTO, and we all want it to succeed.” Many observers blame Washington for the paralysis of the WTO’s top dispute settlement panel whose judge appointments …