Though Dr. Ngozi Okonj-Iweala, former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, won as Director-General, DG, World Trade Organisation, WTO, by a wide margin, the United States of America, USA, says it would not support her appointment.
This is as WTO had Wednesday confirmed that the candidate with highest votes has been appointed as the Director-General for securing 104 votes from the member countries and that negotiations are ongoing.
A report published on Bloomberg revealed that the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea, purportedly said U.S. could not support a consensus decision to appoint Okonjo-Iweala.
Shea said the U.S. disagreed with the way in which the process was being carried out, according to sources.
Similarly, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has pushed for South Korea’s candidate, Yoo Myung-hee.
Giving reasons, Lighthizer reportedly said he viewed Okonjo-Iweala as being too close to pro-trade internationalists in Washington like Robert Zoellick, a former USTR who worked with Okonjo-Iweala when he was President of the World Bank.
Recall that all 27 EU governments agreed on Monday in Brussels to support Okonjo-Iweala, over Yoo Myung-hee, of South Korea.
