Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala vows to be a peacemaker in US-China trade war if elected WTO DG

Nigeria’s nominee for the World Trade Organization(WTO) director general, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says she’ll play the role of peacemaker in the trade war between the United States and China.

“The U.S. and China are the two largest economies in the world. I know that they both believe in trade, she said in an interview with the POLITICO.

“Both China and the U.S. have an interest in seeing the WTO go on. But they want people to listen, they want someone who can listen carefully to what their issues are, what is it they want to see improved in the WTO,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

The former Nigeria’s minister of finance said she would be the listener-in-chief and “objective arbiter” who could convince Beijing and Washington that it was in their mutual interest to get the WTO running again.

The WTO is currently moribund with the U.S government accusing the Geneva-based body of being too soft on China and is calling for root-and-branch reform. In the meantime, it has blocked the appointment of judges to the WTO’s Appellate Body, the top global court for trade disputes, effectively bringing the WTO system to a halt.