Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director General, DG, of the World Trade Organization, WTO, was on Friday, November 29, reappointed for a second term. Thi
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director General, DG, of the World Trade Organization, WTO, was on Friday, November 29, reappointed for a second term.
This is coming amidst concerns about the potential return of Donald Trump as the President of the United States, US, and his opposition to international trade rules.
Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO, was the sole candidate in the race, making her reappointment nearly certain.
The WTO’s 166 member countries reached a consensus during a special, closed-door meeting of the General Council, officially confirming her reappointment as director-general.
The 70-year-old Nigerian’s current term is set to end in August 2025, but the process for appointing the next director-general was originally expected to take months.
However, due to Okonjo-Iweala being the only candidate, African nations pushed for the process to be expedited, particularly in preparation for the WTO’s next major ministerial conference in Cameroon in 2026.
The underlying goal, according to Keith Rockwell, a senior fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, was to prevent Trump’s team from vetoing her reappointment, as they had done four years ago.
In 2020, Trump’s administration used the consensus-based appointment process to block Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment for several months, delaying her taking office until President Joe Biden’s administration took over in early 2021.
The strong backing for Okonjo-Iweala’s second term was less about universal admiration for her leadership, according to sources close to the discussions.
Instead, member countries were concerned that if she were not reinstated, the U.S. administration might block other potential candidates, creating a leadership vacuum at the WTO.
Rockwell, a former WTO spokesman, noted that accelerating Okonjo-Iweala’s reappointment is likely to create tensions with the US, tensions that would have existed regardless, but this move heightens the stakes.
During Trump’s first term, the WTO endured consistent attacks from his administration, which weakened the organization’s dispute settlement system and even raised the possibility of the US withdrawing from the WTO entirely.
Trump has already indicated he plans to initiate aggressive trade wars, warning of a barrage of tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico starting on his first day back in office, January 20.
