The World Trade Organisation is set to cut about 10 per cent of its spending – including hiring freezes and reductions in short-term staff – after the US fell back into arrears and a growing number of members failed to pay their dues on time, according to classified WTO documents seen by Reuters.
The watchdog for global trade rules since 1995 has already been tested by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs that upended international trade as well as by more than six years of paralysis after Trump’s first administration in 2019 began blocking appointments to the organisation’s top appeals court.
Washington – usually the biggest contributor to the Geneva-based body – is one of 10 members in Category 1 arrears, meaning it has not paid its contributions for at least a year but for less than two years, adding to growing financial pressure on the organisation, internal documents dated March 12 and February 18 from its Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration showed.
It was not immediately clear when – or even if – the US would pay up. In March, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the WTO would play a limited role in global trade policy going forward, with Washington instead pursuing its trade agenda through regional, bilateral and, where necessary, unilateral channels following a deadlocked ministerial meeting in Cameroon.
The WTO has proposed cost-saving measures including cutting 39 short-term, full-time equivalent positions, freezing recruitment of fixed-term staff, using more low-cost interns and reducing electricity costs, one of the classified documents showed.
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