Discord at WTO meet: No deal on food security, fisheries subsidies, e-com

The World Trade Organisation failed to reach any new agreements on Wednesday, ending a three-day ministerial conference in discord in the face of stinging US criticism of the group and vetoes from other countries.

The stalemate dashed hopes for new deals on e-commerce and curbs to farm and fisheries subsidies and raised questions about the body’s ability to govern increasingly disputed global trade.

The frustrations led some ministers, including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, to suggest that negotiations among smaller groups of “like-minded” WTO countries were a better approach going forward.

“We have not achieved any multilateral outcomes,” European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told a news conference. “The sad reality is that we did not even agree to stop subsidising illegal fishing.”

She said the meeting laid bare one of the WTO’s biggest deficiencies - that all agreements must have the unanimous consent of all 164 member countries. She said the United States was partly to blame but that other countries also blocked progress.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo added that WTO members needed to do some “real soul searching” about the way forward and realize they cannot get everything they want.

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Not end of the world if Brexit is not followed by EU trade deal: WTO chief

The head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Sunday said it would not be "the end of the world" if Britain failed to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, but there would be costs.

Roberto Azevedo told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that although Britain would be better off with an agreement, the impact of falling back on WTO rules would be "manageable".

"About half of the UK's trade is already on WTO terms -- with the US, China and several large emerging nations where the EU doesn't have trade agreements," he said.

"So it's not the end of the world if the UK trades under WTO rules with the EU."

Britain intends to leave the EU's single market and customs union when it withdraws from the bloc in March 2019, but hopes to reach a free trade agreement (FTA) with Brussels before then.

However, trade talks have yet to formally start, and without a deal, bilateral trade would likely be subject to higher WTO tariffs as well as other barriers such as increased red tape.

"If you don't have a fully functioning FTA with the EU, there could be rigidities and costs -- but it's not like trade between the UK and EU is going to stop," Azevedo said.

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