Okonjo-Iweala reappointed as World Trade Organization’s Director-General for a 2nd term

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has reappointed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its Director-General for a second term. The 70-year-old Nigerian’s reappointment was approved by consensus during the organisation’s General Council which was held behind closed doors on Friday.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO as Director-General, emerged with no opposing candidate. Her victory also comes with the return of Donald Trump and his disdain for international trade rules.

According to an official statement from the international organization on its X handle, “The General Council has appointed Director-General @NOIweala for a second term, effective 1 September 2025.”

Initially, the appointment process was stated to take place next month. But African countries called for a speedy process in order to facilitate the WTO’s next ministerial conference scheduled for Cameroon next year. Okonjo-Iweala’s current term ends in August 2025.

A source at AFP disclosed that the support for Okonjo-Iweala’s second term was overwhelming “because everyone loves Ngozi.” The source added that members were “worried that if she doesn’t get reinstated, then it’s possible that the administration in Washington would slow things (or) block other contenders.”

Accelerated reappointment amidst post-Trump concerns

In 2020, Donald Trump blocked Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment for months, forcing her to wait to take the reins until after President Joe Biden entered the White House in early 2021.

The process was also accelerated “because they did not want Trump’s team to come in and veto her as they did four years ago”, said Keith Rockwell, a senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.

Rockwell, a former WTO spokesman, expressed that speeding up Okonjo-Iweala’s reappointment “creates tensions in the relationship with the United States, for sure — tensions which would probably have been there under any circumstances, but now this raises the stakes”.

The WTO faced several attacks during Trump’s first term which weakened the organisation’s dispute settlement appeal system. He also threatened to pull the United States out of the organization altogether. 

Moreover, Trump has already signalled that he is preparing to launch all-out trade wars. He threatened to unleash a heap of tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico on his first day in office on January 20.

Dmitry Grozoubinski, author of the book “Why Politicians Lie about Trade”, reacted to Trump’s trade rule approach.

“Governments are increasingly turning to trade measures to address issues like national security, environmental competition, and re-industrialization, and policymakers aren’t as moved as they once were by arguments that their ideas violate the letter or spirit of WTO commitments,” he told AFP.

“If President-elect Trump makes destroying the WTO a priority,” he said, the organization’s “options will be limited as the institution is not built to withstand overt demolition from within its membership,” added.

In a conversation with AFP, Elvire Fabry, a researcher at the Institut Jacques Delors think-tank expressed that Trump has no plans to adhere to rules. “The festival of tariffs announced to date shows that he has no intention of following any rules. The United States would not even need to withdraw from the WTO. They are freeing themselves from the WTO rules,” she said.

She has then described the role of the WTO Director-General under Trump as “a firefighter role”.

Since her inception as the WTO Chief in March 2021, Okonjo-Iweala has tried to refuel the fragile organization by focusing on strategic areas like climate change and health.

Meet Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (aged 70) is a Nigerian Economist who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. She is the first woman and African to lead the World Trade Organization as Director-General.

Okonjo-Iweala serves the Brookings Institution as a non-resident distinguished fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative in their Global Economy and Development Program. She is a Commissioner Emeritus and Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. At The World Bank, she had a 25-year career as a development economist. She became the Managing Director for Operations from 2007 to 2011. 

She was the first Nigerian woman to serve two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria both coming under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2006 and under President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2015.

Subsequently, from June to August 2006, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the Year.

Okonjo-Iweala was previously on the boards of Danone, Standard Chartered Bank, Mandela Institute for Development Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, One Campaign, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Rockefeller Foundation, and others. 

She also previously sat on the Twitter Board of Directors and stepped down in February 2021 in connection with her appointment as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

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