The director-general of the World Trade Organization has warned that bilateral tariff deals between the US and other countries could damage a core principle of trade equality.
In an interview with the Financial Times at the end of a visit to Tokyo this week, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said global trade was in a “crisis” despite the recent de-escalation of a tariff war between the US and China.
Japanese officials have privately expressed concern that a hastily negotiated US-UK trade agreement sealed this month could encourage countries to consider expediency driven bilateral deals that challenge the “most favoured nation” equality principle underpinning the WTO system.