WTO chief reinstated for second term

World Trade Organisation (WTO) Chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed for a second term at a special meeting on Friday, the trade watchdog said, meaning her tenure will coincide with US President-elect Donald Trump's second administration.

Analysts expect the road ahead for the three-decade-old WTO will be challenging, likely characterised by trade wars with Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, threatening hefty tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister, who made history in 2021 by becoming the WTO's first female and first African director-general, announced in September that she would run again, aiming to complete "unfinished business".

No other candidates ran against her and all of the WTO's 166 members agreed by consensus to a proposal to reappoint her.

"We have a full agenda to deliver...and we fully intend to get to work immediately, no stopping, to try and deliver on these results," Okonjo-Iweala told journalists, citing WTO reforms and fishing negotiations as among her priorities.

Trade sources said the meeting created a means of fast-tracking her appointment process to avoid any risk of it being blocked by Trump, whose teams and allies have criticised both Okonjo-Iweala and the WTO in the past. Many predict the WTO will be a theatre where mounting trade tensions between the US and China will play out, with Trump's new trade team expected to challenge Beijing's official developing country status at the WTO that critics say endows it with unfair advantages.