President Trump Blocks Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala From WTO Director General Role

Nigeria’s former minister of finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has already started getting congratulatory messages for becoming the new director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO)but the congratulations on the being the first African and first female WTO head are rather premature.

Despite being widely seen as the front-runner for the role and having won a raft of high-level endorsements—including from the European Union and key stakeholders within WTO itself, Okonjo-Iweala’s potential appointment is currently being vetoed by opposition from the Trump administration.


High-level US trade representatives say the country will not back Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, citing displeasure with how the selection process has been carried out, Bloomberg reports. The US stance represents a major complication given decisions at the 164-member global trade body are typically based on a consensus. Okonjo-Iweala’s sole opponent for WTO director-general is South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee, who was the country’s first female trade minister.



The complication to Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment is the latest impasse engineered by the Trump White House at the World Trade Organization. The administration has blocked the appointment of judges to the appellate body of the WTO, effectively stopping it from functioning and hearing appeals on global trade disputes.

With talks expected between member states expected to continue, an appointment for Okonjo-Iweala, who has run a very high-profile campaign for the role, will have to wait until the Nov. 9 when the body’s general council is expected to meet. In the event that the member nations do not achieve a consensus, the selection of a new WTO director-general will be done through a vote as a last resort—a first for the global trade body.

For her part, Okonjo-Iweala’s potential rise to WTO director-general will be doubly historic as she will become both the first African and also the first woman to lead the organization. It will add to a stellar career for the 66-year old which has included a 25-year spell at the World Bank as well two stints as minister of finance in Nigeria. Okonjo-Iweala’s global stock has continued to rise since leaving public office in Nigeria in 2015: she has served as board chairperson at global vaccine alliance Gavi since 2016 and was also appointed to the board of social media giant, Twitter in June 2018.

From qz.com