Former Negotiators Concerned That WTO Is Resisting Virtual Proceedings
At a time that the World Trade Organization is under stress -- its appellate body disbanded, and its director general quitting before his term is up -- member countries are also resisting moving proceedings online. Nigel Cory, associate director of trade policy for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said other groups have “shifted these critical high-level meetings online,” but the WTO canceled its June ministerial meeting. Cory said that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is negotiating online on the matter of digital taxes, so it is showing it can be done.
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Cory was a panelist at the Washington International Trade Association event on the WTO on May 28.
Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler, who was a negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said, “It’s not like we haven’t used digital at all. I’ve been on lots of phone calls.” She said legal scrubs have been done electronically, as well. “There has been a gradual movement towards this,” she said.
But Cory said he thinks the lack of consensus over doing online proceedings at the WTO isn't just a question of logistics. “Digital becomes another veto point in this … highly charged situation the WTO finds itself in,” he said.
A former assistant USTR for WTO affairs, Mark Linscott, is concerned about how this will affect the selection of the next director general of the body. The last time one was chosen, “frankly, it was a complicated and tedious process,” he said.
Terry Stewart, a retired trade attorney who is sympathetic to the Trump administration's trade policy, said U.S. officials will be looking for a director general they believe is capable of “finding a path forward in what looks like impassable waters.” He said that if they believe they've found that person, they will assemble a coalition of countries to support him or her.