DAVOS, Switzerland (CHATNEWSTV) — World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged world leaders, government officials, and business executives to “just chill” and “take a deep breath” as she addressed trade policy uncertainties during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week.
“Trade has remained resilient despite recent crises,” Okonjo-Iweala said during the session Finding Growth in Uncertain Times on January 21.
“Trade will still be a source of growth,” she added, citing a WTO study predicting double-digit trade growth through the adoption of artificial intelligence tools that reduce trade costs and boost productivity.
The WEF’s theme, “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age,” framed Okonjo-Iweala’s emphasis on addressing risks of trade fragmentation. She warned, “Fragmenting into two geopolitical trading blocs and adding trade policy uncertainty could result in global GDP losses of 6.4%, equivalent to the economies of Japan and Korea combined.”
At the session Squaring the Climate-Trade Circle on January 22, she championed trade’s role in environmental preservation, advocating for countries to export goods with minimal carbon footprints.
“You can’t have the adoption of clean energy technology without trade,” she said.
On January 23, during a debate on tariffs with European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, Okonjo-Iweala cautioned against a cycle of retaliatory tariffs.
“If we return to tit-for-tat retaliation like in the 1930s, global GDP could suffer double-digit losses. That’s catastrophic,” she said, stressing the disproportionate impact on poorer countries.
Concluding her Davos engagements on January 24, Okonjo-Iweala participated in a ministerial meeting on WTO issues, hosted by the Swiss government. The session focused on advancing reform and preparing for the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference in 2026. Ministers expressed “strong support for the WTO and the rules-based, transparent multilateral trading system.”
“The context is changing, we must deliver, and we must modernize,” Okonjo-Iweala urged, calling for progress beyond entrenched positions to ensure the WTO’s relevance in a shifting global landscape.
