Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Nigerian economist is the first WTO leader black woman

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Nigerian economist is the first WTO leader black woman

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Yoo Myung-hee, the South Korean trade minister, announced his decision to withdraw in a television interview on Friday.

Okonjo-Iweala, an economist and former finance minister in Nigeria, already had broad support from WTO members, including the European Union, China, Japan and Australia.
However, the United States, under the Trump administration, favored Yoo, complicating the decision-making process, since selecting a new leader requires all WTO members to agree. The formal selection of Okonjo-Iweala may have to wait until the United States appoints a new commercial representative.

Yoo He said his decision was reached after “close consultations” with the United States. The WTO has been without a leader for a long time, she added.

The Geneva-based body charged with promoting free trade has been without a permanent director-general since Roberto Azevêdo stepped down a year earlier than planned at the end of August, after the WTO was caught in the middle of an escalation of the trade struggle between the United States and China.

The Trump administration strongly criticized the WTO and undermined its position by imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union. Okonjo-Iweala will therefore take control of an organization that has been struggling to avoid trade strife among its members.

Although US President Joe Biden has already taken steps to restore support for multilateral institutions, he is expected to proceed with caution when signing new trade agreements.

In a speech to the State Department on Thursday, Biden promised to put diplomacy back at the center of US foreign policy, but he was also careful to emphasize that foreign policy should benefit middle-class Americans.
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Okonjo-Iweala, who comes from one of the few parts of the world where free trade is on the rise, told CNN in August that trade would play an important role in recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

“The WTO needs a leader right now. It needs a new look, a new face, a stranger, someone with the ability to implement reforms and work with members to ensure that the WTO comes out of the partial paralysis it is in” she said in an interview.

Okonjo-Iweala spent 25 years at the World Bank as a development economist, reaching the post of managing director. She also chaired Gavi’s board, which is helping to distribute coronavirus vaccines worldwide, leaving office at the end of her term in December.

– Eoin McSweeney, Yoonjung Seo and Stephanie Busari contributed reports.

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