{"id":320357,"date":"2026-03-09T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/320357\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T08:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:34:09","slug":"global-trading-system-under-unsustainable-pressure-warns-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/320357\/","title":{"rendered":"Global trading system under \u2018unsustainable\u2019 pressure, warns UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

The global trading system is under \u201cunsustainable\u201d pressure, the British government has warned, ahead of a crunch meeting of trade ministers later this month.<\/p>\n

The UK told the Geneva-based World Trade Organization that significant reforms were required to halt the breakdown of the rules-based trading order.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear the status quo is unsustainable,\u201d the UK said in a policy paper seen by the FT, setting out the government\u2019s position ahead of the WTO\u2019s ministerial council meeting in Cameroon at the end of this month. \u201cThe multilateral trading system is too important to fail, but it will fail if we do not act,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The bleak assessment of the international trade landscape included thinly veiled criticism of both the US and China for their go-it-alone policies that have seen a sharp rise in trade tensions since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gathering of over 160 world trade ministers will take place just days before Trump\u2019s scheduled visit to Beijing to meet the Chinese President Xi Jinping. <\/p>\n

Over the past year as US tariffs<\/a> have hit their highest levels since the second world war, while China\u2019s annual trade surplus exceeded $1tn, fuelling western criticism of its unfair trade practices.<\/p>\n

Recalling how the 19th century\u2019s global trading model encouraged rivalry between major powers which ultimately led to armed conflict, the UK added: \u201cWe risk moving backwards as we again are faced with a choice between the rules-based order or a power-based order.\u201d <\/p>\n

UK trade secretary Peter Kyle told the FT that the WTO risked becoming \u201cout of touch with reality\u201d if it did not grasp the nettle of reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain is prepared to have the difficult conversations and call out behaviours that undermine the global rules-based trading system. We stand ready to drive forward a reformed and refreshed WTO with partners in Cameroon,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The UK is part of a bloc of so-called \u2018middle power\u2019 countries, including the EU, Canada, Singapore and Australasia, that are seeking to agree an ambitious reform programme to update the WTO trading system.<\/p>\n

The reforms include proposed changes to WTO decision-making that would stop individual countries from blocking agreements that improve trade, stricter measures to tackle unfair subsidies and modernisation of carve-outs for developing countries.<\/p>\n

Despite Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s efforts to improve trade ties with China, including a visit to Beijing<\/a> in January, the UK policy paper attacks the use of \u201cstate-owned enterprises and the use of subsidies leading to overcapacity\u201d, in a clear swipe at China\u2019s distortionary economic policies.<\/p>\n

It also implicitly attacks the US for continuing to block the appointment of judges to the WTO\u2019s main enforcement mechanism, which has been moribund since 2019, a situation the UK paper said \u201cfundamentally undermined\u201d the value of the WTO.<\/p>\n

The push for reform comes as Trump\u2019s global tariff war has severely undermined the so-called \u2018most favoured nation\u2019 policy, a foundational principle of the WTO that requires members to treat each other equally.<\/p>\n

The EU, which has long been a staunch defender of the MFN principle, caused consternation last month<\/a> with its own policy paper which appeared to call into question the bloc\u2019s commitment to the idea.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"Rows<\/a><\/p>\n

The prospect of making progress at the Cameroon meeting suffered an early setback last week after the US and several other countries refused to agree a draft statement setting out a roadmap for reform.<\/p>\n

Diplomats had hoped to get agreement for the draft text ahead of the meeting in Cameroon, but three diplomats with knowledge of the discussion said the US had supported a rival text.<\/p>\n

The alternative version, submitted by Paraguay and seen by the FT, sets out a more vague plan of action. Washington\u2019s move came despite US representatives telling a closed-door meeting of diplomats last week that it did not want to \u201cwaste time on empty statements\u201d. <\/p>\n

WTO diplomats will meet in Geneva on Tuesday to finalise documents to be submitted to trade ministers in Cameroon, but several said they were not optimistic that a consensus could be reached over the rival drafts. \u201cThe US has made its position pretty clear,\u201d one added.<\/p>\n

A senior US trade official said: \u201cThe United States is interested only in concrete and realistic outcomes.\u00a0Many WTO members are promoting drafts that are disconnected the reality of the challenges facing the WTO.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-320357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}