Brussels, Jan. 28, 2021 (Lusa) – The Portuguese chairmanship of the Council of the European Union believes that the reform of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), starting with the resolution of the institutional vacuum, will be "easier" with the new US administration, the Foreign Minister said on Thursday.

In a debate, by videoconference, with the European Parliament's International Trade Committee on the priorities of the Portuguese chairmanship of the EU Council in this area, Augusto Santos Silva argued that "it is very important to take advantage of this 'momentum' in the transatlantic relationship "also on the trade agenda", considering that the context is now more favourable than in the last four years, after Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump in the White House.

"We should not follow the United States, but we should work with the United States. First of all, to resolve the present institutional vacuum [in the WTO]. Because of differences that could not be overcome in the time of the Trump administration, we have not yet achieved the necessary consensus to choose the next Director-General. We hope that now, with the Biden administration, consensus will be easier," he said.

Pointing out that the WTO ministerial conference should take place as early as the second half of the year, under the next Slovenian chairmanship of the EU Council, Santos Silva argued, however, that the Union should "prepare for this conference now" and should "do so in coordination with the United States".

"We must rely on the United States in our action to reform the WTO and we must move towards a friendly environment, favourable to the solution of several trade disputes we have today with the United States, particularly in the aeronautical sector", he said.

Last November, the WTO decided to postpone a meeting scheduled for the 9th of this month to try to choose a new Director-General after the selection was blocked by the United States.

Eight candidates - five men and three women - were in the running for leadership at the WTO, an institution in crisis that was severely criticised by the United States during the Trump administration.

After a selection process that lasted six months, it was announced on 28 October that the candidate who was best placed to succeed the Brazilian Roberto Azevedo was Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The United States, however, expressed its opposition to this choice and said it supported the other candidate, South Korean Yoo Myung-hee.

The US veto plunged the WTO, where decisions are taken by consensus, into the greatest uncertainty, as Azevedo left office at the end of August, a year ahead of schedule, and several countries felt it was preferable to postpone the process because they felt that an understanding was not possible while Donald Trump was in the US presidency.

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