‘Existential Threat’ to WTO Ignored by G-20 Statement, EU Says

(Bloomberg) -- A joint communique by trade ministers from the Group of 20 countries meeting in Japan this weekend doesn’t reflect the “existential threat” that could face the World Trade Organization, the European Union said.

Trade ministers agreed in their statement following a meeting in Tsukuba, Japan, “to undertake necessary WTO reform with a sense of urgency.” It will form the basis of discussions at a G-20 leaders summit set to take place in Osaka at the end of June.

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“It does not however reflect the scale or the urgency of the analysis expressed about the current state of the global trading system,” the EU said in response to the talks. Neither did it recognize officials’ “anxieties” about the global trade system, the EU said.

UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who attended the talks, also said after the meeting that the statement did not go far enough, warning the WTO faces “one if its biggest tests since its establishment with all its functions under strain. It could become an existential crisis.”

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