“They need to build a coalition of like-minded countries supportive of the multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Monday, calling such a bloc “a powerful voice for safeguarding the multilateral trading system”.
Middle-power countries are influential states that, while not superpowers or great powers, wield significant economic, geographic, demographic or military influence.
Elected last week to a second term as WTO director general, Okonjo-Iweala said middle powers should engage in “joint diplomacy with the US and China aimed at shoring up open and predictable trade relations”.
Trump has pledged to impose substantial new tariffs on foreign goods, including a 25 per cent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese products.
The president-elect has argued that the import taxes will create manufacturing jobs stateside as well as reduce the US federal deficit in implementing his “Made-in-America” and “America-first” policies.
