Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was appointed director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), at his Home in Potomac, Maryland, U.S., Feb. 15, 2021.
Nigerian-American economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was named director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday (15) after being endorsed by President Joe Biden, becoming the organization’s first African-American woman leader.
The Trump administration had opposed Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy for the top WTO post, but Okonjo-Iweala was endorsed by the Biden Administration and highly praised by the Chinese Communist Party‘s Ministry of Commerce. The Communist Party’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday that they have “full confidence” in Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest lobbying groups in the United States, congratulated Okonjo-Iweala on his appointment. Earlier this month, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (Office of the United States Trade Representative, USTR) also praised Okonjo-Iweala and said the new WTO chief is “widely respected.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (Robert Lighthizer) has said that the Trump Administration does not support Okonjo-Iweala because of her lack of experience in trade issues, which is a core function of the WTO.
Lighthizer told the Financial Times last year, “We need someone who really understands trade, not someone who did development at the World Bank.”
The Trump administration has accused the WTO of being biased and incompetent in favor of the Chinese Communist Party. Late last year, the WTO ruled against the U.S., claiming that the 2018 U.S. tariffs imposed on China were illegal, arguing that the CCP was not engaging in harmful trade activities. Leitheiser said at the Time that the ruling proved the validity of President Trump’s view that the WTO was completely inadequate to stop the harmful actions of the CCP.
At least 3.4 million Americans have lost their jobs since the U.S. began free trade with the CCP in 2001. In 1985, before the CCP joined the WTO, the total U.S. trade deficit with China was $6 billion. And in 2019, that amount exceeded $345 billion.
For decades, the free trade agreements signed in Washington have dealt a devastating blow to American workers and the middle class. According to a report released in January by Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, free trade has gutted the working class in white areas while devastating black and Latino America.
Okonjo-Iweala, who served as Nigeria’s finance and foreign ministers, was nominated by the country’s president in June 2020 as the country’s candidate for WTO director general, having left government service. But she was revealed to have been naturalized in the United States in 2019, according to Wikipedia. She received the support of the Biden administration in the final stages of her bid for WTO director general.
Okonjo-Iweala will officially take over the top WTO post on March 1, and her term will run until August 31, 2025.
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