WTO Overhaul Targets Easier Decision-Making

World Trade Organization (WTO) members are seeking to break years of paralysis in international trade negotiations, which have been sidelined by the Trump administration and risk becoming irrelevant, internal WTO documents seen by Reuters show.

- OLIVIA LE POIDEVIN & EMMA FARGE

Trump's sweeping tariffs have forced countries to line up to negotiate bilateral trade deals with Washington, bypassing the multilateral framework.

WTO members had already struggled to reach deals due to a consensus requirement among all 166 members. Preventing members from blocking decisions is now the top priority in reform talks, diplomats told Reuters.

"The sense of urgency is palpable, and there is widespread recognition that there is no viable alternative to reform," Norway's WTO Ambassador Peter Olberg, who was appointed to facilitate the organization's reform talks, said in an internal communication to members seen by Reuters.