Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will serve a second term as director-general of the World Trade Organization beginning next year, the organization said on Friday, following an early election process in which the Nigerian economist was the sole leadership candidate.
The Biden administration had expressed concern over the expedited election process, which was brought forward following a request from a group of African nations, but ultimately did not object to her reappointment. The request to bring the process forward, ostensibly to give Okonjo-Iweala additional time to prepare for the 2025 ministerial conference in Cameroon, also prevents the incoming Trump administration from blocking her appointment, as it did during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Okonjo-Iweala, who began her first term in 2021, secured support by consensus for another four-year term, which will begin on Sept. 1, 2025, according to a WTO statement.
“The decision to reappoint Dr. Okonjo-Iweala reflects the members confidence in her leadership and her vision for the WTO,” Petter Ølberg, chair of the WTO General Council who oversaw the appointment process, told reporters during a Friday press conference.
In her own statement on her reappointment, Okonjo-Iweala touted the Geneva-based trade body’s role in mitigating the impact of the pandemic and supporting economic growth. “As we look ahead, I remain firmly committed to delivering results that matter—results that ultimately improve the lives of people around the world,” the statement reads.
The Biden-Harris administration congratulated Okonjo-Iweala in a statement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Friday. “We support strong and continued collaboration with the Director-General to find necessary paths forward to achieve substantive and procedural reform of the WTO,” the statement reads.
The next administration, however, may adopt a less collaborative tone. Many of Trump’s tariff proposals – which have included an across-the-board tariff applied to all U.S. imports – would run counter to U.S. WTO commitments, putting the incoming administration, with its contempt for international trade rules, and the organization responsible for upholding them on course for conflict.
Former Trump officials have also been critical of Okonjo-Iweala’s leadership. Former USTR Robert Lighthizer called Okonjo-Iweala “China’s ally in Geneva” in his 2023 book “No Trade is Free.” Lighthizer also led the effort to block her appointment in Trump’s first term.
Clete Willems, a former Trump administration trade official, has also railed against the decision to expedite her reappointment, telling Politico EU earlier this month the move was “completely politically tone deaf.”
In the press conference on Friday, however, both Ølberg and Okonjo-Iweala stressed that the reappointment process had complied with all WTO procedures.
“I've consulted with all members on every step of the way, and the decision, as you know, today, was taken by consensus – every member in support,” Ølberg told reporters. “There is no reason to say that it has not been a legitimate process.”
Okonjo-Iweala declined to comment on Trump's tariff threats, saying only that it was "premature to try to pronounce on these issues." She said she hoped to avoid any trade disputes that might hurt the world trading system, but expressed an eagerness to work with the incoming administration "with a very constructive and creative approach."
"She has her work cut out for her," Alan Wolff, former WTO deputy director-general told Agri-Pulse on Friday, adding that the U.S. divergence from WTO principles would be a "major issue." Wolff said that Okonjo-Iweala "will undoubtedly be consulting with key members to assess how to keep the institution vibrant and relevant."
The incumbent WTO director-general previewed her next term by identifying a number of areas in which she hoped members would make progress in the coming years. Near the top of that list, she said, are securing further actions on curbing harmful fishery subsidies and strengthening food security.
“You cannot solve the problem of people going to bed hungry – 700 million of them – without trade being involved. So we need a breakthrough in that,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
She also highlighted the opportunities to increase developing economies’ participation in global supply chains as part of what she described as a “reglobalization” effort underway since the pandemic amid a push to reduce supply chain vulnerabilities.
The director-general is also targeting the WTO’s 14th ministerial conference, slated for March, as a venue to make progress on “legacy issues” that have the subject of longstanding negotiations. The dispute settlement system, which allows countries to resolve trade disputes, has been thrown into turmoil following the U.S.’ decision to block the appointment of new judges to its appellate body.
“The dispute settlement system, if we've not completed, should be something that at MC 14 we should take,” Okonjo-Iweala told reporters, adding that “agriculture definitely needs to make a breakthrough there.”
But she stressed that “it will be up to members to decide what they want to focus on.”
WTO members are trying to find a way forward on several agricultural trade issues, including farm subsidies and export restrictions on food items.
At the meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture this week, the U.S. and several other countries formally challenged India over its support for the domestic rice and wheat industries, arguing its market price support program exceeded WTO support limits for developing economies. India rejected the accusation and argued its program complies with the country’s WTO obligations.
