Who is head of the World Trade Organization?
Director-General of the World Trade Organization
The current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo of Brazil, since 1 September 2013.
Foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration
Trump has called the World Trade Organization (WTO) a "disaster". When informed that tariffs in the range of 15 to 35 percent would be contrary to the rules of the WTO, he answered "even better. Then we're going to renegotiate or we're going to pull out."
World Safety Organization
The WSO is governed by a 21-member Board of Directors and is headed by a President/Director-General, which is currently Dr Vlado Senkovich. Its operations are managed by International Offices, Chapters, Divisions, Committees and specially designated WSO Collaborating Centers. A Global Safety Roundtable is also conducted annually during the WSO international conferences held in the USA,
where participants can exchange expertise, experience and knowledge with their counterparts
from other countries on new methods and programs being implemented in their respective areas of specialization. The Global Safety Roundtable is also a forum for the development of potential resolutions to UN ECOSOC.
Harald Malmgren
In early 1972 Malmgren was designated by President Nixon to be the first US official to call for the creation of a Transpacific economic cooperation organization. In 1973 at the behest of President Nixon and French President Pompidou, Malmgren worked directly with French Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to devise, and subsequently launch the Tokyo Round of world trade negotiations.
First 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency
During the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on January 17–20, China's President Xi Jinping, as keynote speaker, "vigorously" defended globalization in a speech that the "Financial Times" described as "one would have expected to come from a US president". Mr. Xi observed that "blaming economic globalisation for the world's problems is inconsistent with reality... globalisation has powered global growth and facilitated movement of goods and capital, advances in science, technology and civilisation, and interactions among people In 2015, China became the United States' largest trade partner, placing Canada second. The "Times" 2017 article, citing an analysis by Peterson Institute for International Economics, noted that "China and Mexico together account for a quarter of US trade". Concerns have been raised about Trump's proposed imposition of a 45 percent tariff on imports from China. On January 23, The U.S. Commerce Department announced new countervailing duties (CVDs) ranging from 38.61 to 65.46 percent on Chinese vehicles in the antidumping case. In 2015, over 8.9 million Chinese truck and bus tires worth $1.07 billion were imported to the United States.
European Commissioner for Trade
The Commissioner heads up the Directorate-General for Trade in defining the commercial policy of the EU, which has been exclusively under the EU's mandate since the EEC's Rome Treaty in 1957. Due to the size of the European economy, being the world's largest market and having a huge slice of world trade, this position can be very important in dealing with other world economic powers such as China or the United States. Former Commissioner Leon Brittan commented that “Frankly, it is more important than most [national] cabinet jobs”.
John W. Thompson
John Wendell Thompson (born April 24, 1949) is the chairman of Microsoft. He is a former CEO at Virtual Instruments, a vice-president at IBM and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Symantec. Thompson later became an independent director on the board of Microsoft, and on February 4, 2014, he was named the chairman of the board. He led the search for Microsoft's next CEO; as a result, Satya Nadella was selected.
William White (economist)
William R. White (born 1943) is a Canadian economist who is the chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He is famous for flagging the wild behaviour in the debt markets before the global storm hit in 2008 (Great Recession).
Guy F. Tozzoli
Guy Frederick Tozzoli (February 12, 1922, North Bergen, New Jersey – February 2, 2013, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) was director of the World Trade Department of the Port of New York Authority in the 1960s. As such he was a driving force behind the development and building of the World Trade Center towers. Tozzoli was also a founder of the World Trade Centers Association, which fostered the development and operation of World Trade Centers globally. Tozzoli was the driving force from New York City, while his business associates Tadayoshi Yamada and Paul Fabry led the WTC effort in Tokyo and New Orleans respectively. Tozzoli graduated from Fordham University and later served his country as a lieutenant in World War II and the Korean War. Tozzoli was credited for hiring Minoru Yamasaki to design the World Trade Center complex which was dedicated in April, 1973. Tozzoli retired as Director of the World Trade Department for the Port Authority in 1987, but remained as president of the World Trade Centers Association until January 2011.
Patrick E. Ngowi
In 2015, Patrick Ngowi was elected as Chairman of the United Nations Global Compact in Tanzania. The network houses Tanzania’s leading private sector and multinational companies. United Nations Global Compact is head quartered at the United Nations building in New York and was launched by former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in year 2000 in Davos Switzerland, as part of private sector participation in building responsible business practices by honoring the 10 principles related to labour, human rights, environment and anti-corruption. Ngowi sits as board director or member of various global institutions and companies including being corporate member of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation , Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) which is a 20 private sector member council, he represents Youth and Energy on the council chaired by the President of United Republic of Tanzania, the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania (CEOrt), East Africa Business Council (EABC) and Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF).
United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
The head of the Antitrust Division is an Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust (AAG-AT) appointed by the President of the United States. The current Assistant Attorney General is Makan Delrahim.
Néstor Osorio Londoño
After a career as an administrative lawyer, he served as 1st Permanent Representative of Colombia to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva from 1995 to 1999. He was the fourth Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization from 2002 to 2010, where he had represented Colombia since 1978 when he was named Alternate Delegate and later becoming head of mission and Permanent Representative until 1994. After leaving the WTO, he worked for the Colombian Government as High Advisor for Coffee Policy from September 2000 until his election as Executive Director of the ICO.
Herminio Blanco Mendoza
Candidate to the post of World Trade Organization Director-General
Permanent Representative of Australia to the World Trade Organization
The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the World Trade Organization is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Permanent Mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The position has the rank and status of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and continues Australia's representation to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT; 1948–1995), as a charter member joining the WTO to replace the GATT on 1 January 1995. The Permanent Mission to the WTO is based with the Australian Permanent Mission and Consulate-General in Geneva. Prior to 1983, the role of Australia's representative on the GATT was filled by the Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
William Kovacic
William Evan Kovacic was the Commissioner of the United States Federal Trade Commission from January 4, 2006 to October 3, 2011. President George W. Bush designated him to serve as FTC Chairman on March 30, 2008. President Barack Obama designated Jon Leibowitz as Chairman on March 2, 2009, replacing Kovacic. Kovacic replaced Deborah Platt Majoras.
Global Trade Watch
Lori Wallach, GTW's Director and Founder was described as "Ralph Nader with a sense of humor" in a "Wall Street Journal" profile, dubbed "the Trade Debate's Guerrilla Warrior" by the "National Journal", the "Madame Defarge of Seattle" by the Institute for International Economics, and "a key player in Washington debates on trade policy" by The Nation. Wallach is a graduate of Harvard University and previously worked for Public Citizen as a lobbyist for food safety improvements.
World Economic Forum
The Managing Board is chaired by the Forum's President, Børge Brende, and acts as the executive body of the World Economic Forum. Managing Board members are W. Lee Howell, Jeremy Jurgens, Cheryl Martin, Adrian Monck, Philipp Rösler, Richard Samans, Olivier Schwab, Murat Sönmez and Alois Zwinggi.
Joseph Simons
On October 19, 2017, the White House announced that President of the United States Donald Trump would nominate Simons to be chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. He took office on May 1st, 2018.
Pascal Lamy
On 30 April 2009, Lamy was re-elected unanimously by the WTO General Council for a second term of four years, beginning 1 September 2009. He also served as the chairman of the organization's Trade Negotiations Committee. He was the WTO's fifth director-general.
List of European Commission portfolios
The Commissioner for Trade is responsible for the EU's external trade policy. The portfolio is held by Cecilia Malmström. Due to the size of the European economy, being the world's largest market and having a huge slice of world trade, this position can be very important in dealing with other world economic powers such as China or the United States. Former Commissioner Leon Brittan commented that “Frankly, it is more important than most [national] cabinet jobs”. The Commissioner leads Europe in organisations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Concluding WTO talks after the collapse of the Doha Development Round has been a contentious point, with the EU not willing to cut agricultural subsidies without similar action by the United States. The related DG is Directorate-General for Trade.
Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg hosted the Global Business Forum on September 20, 2017. The event was held during the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and featured international CEOs and heads of state. The forum "took place during the elite space once held by the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting," and former President Bill Clinton served as the first speaker. The mission of the event was to discuss "opportunities for advancing trade and economic growth, and the related societal challenges ..." In addition to Clinton and Bloomberg, speakers included Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, World Bank President Jim Kim, IMF head Christine Lagarde, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Global Interdependence Center
Annual Monetary and Trade Conference: This gathering together of global leaders has been held since 1979. Past speakers include Paul Volcker, chair of the International Accounting Standards Board and former chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Lawrence Kudlow and Robert Hormats, noted free-market economists, as well as chief economists for the International Monetary Fund and representatives from global finance and trade organizations.
Indian Trade Service
The Department of commerce is headed by a Secretary who is assisted by a Special Secretary & Financial Adviser, three Additional Secretaries, thirteen Joint Secretaries and Joint Secretary level officers and a number of other senior officers. Keeping in view the large increase in workload in matters related to World Trade Organization (WTO), Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), free trade agreements (FTAs), Special Economic Zones (SEZs), joint study groups (JSGs) etc., two posts each of Joint Secretaries and Directors were created in the Department during 2008-09.
Rosa Whitaker
Rosa Whitaker, a passionate champion for creating enterprising solutions to address poverty and promote prosperity across Africa, is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on Africa trade and investment.  As one of the key architects of the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) while serving as a senior staff member in the US House of Representatives, Rosa spearheaded a revolution in US-African economic relations.  AGOA continues to be the centerpiece of US-Africa economic policy and has contributed towards real and inclusive growth by creating billions of dollars in expanded trade in Africa and employment for millions of African people.
Rosa Whitaker is currently President and CEO of The Whitaker Group (TWG), a leading transaction advisory and project development firm she founded in 2003.  Since its inception, TWG has been the firm of choice for global brands investing and expanding market share in Africa in ways that achieve both commercial and human dividends.   With offices in Washington, DC and Accra, The Whitaker Group has helped to deliver several billion dollars in projects and investments across Africa, and now makes its own direct investments in African companies. Offering forward-thinking projects, such as the “We Build You Grow” infrastructure initiative, TWG is known for innovative and sustainable solutions that create economic prosperity while promoting social equity and environmental stewardship.
World Trade Organization
The WTO's current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, Switzerland. A trade facilitation agreement, part of the Bali Package of decisions, was agreed by all members on 7 December 2013, the first comprehensive agreement in the organization's history. On 23 January 2017, the amendment to the WTO Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement marks the first time since the organization opened in 1995 that WTO accords have been amended, and this change should secure for developing countries a legal pathway to access affordable remedies under WTO rules.
World Health Organization
The head of the organization is the Director-General, elected by the World Health Assembly. The term lasts for 5 years, and Director-Generals are typically appointed in May, when the Assembly meets. The current Director-General is Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was appointed on 1 July 2017.
Director-General of the World Trade Organization
Before the creation of the WTO, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade had a series of Directors-General. Peter Sutherland was the last DG of GATT and the first of the WTO.
George Mavrikos
George Mavrikos (born 1950) is the General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in Athens, Greece. He is a leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), and former member of Greek parliament. He is largely credited for having led the successful efforts to halt the decline of the World Federation of Trade Unions since the fall of the Soviet Union. Since his election as general secretary during the congress in Havana in 2005, the World Federation of Trade Unions has seen an increase in its number of affiliates and has successfully managed to recruit several trade union of importances in Western Europe.
Economic policy of Donald Trump
Trump has called the World Trade Organization (WTO) a "disaster". When informed that tariffs in the range of 15 to 35 percent would be contrary to the rules of the WTO, he answered "even better. Then we're going to renegotiate or we're going to pull out." On July 1, 2018, Axios acquired a leaked draft of a Trump administration bill entitled the "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act," which would allow the United States to ignore WTO rules.
World Trade Organization
(Heads of the precursor organization, GATT):
Herminio Blanco Mendoza
At a meeting of the 157 member countries of the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and observer countries today, Herminio Blanco Mendoza presented his candidacy for the post of WTO Director-General.
American Chamber of Commerce Japan
The ACCJ committees combined hold over 500 programs annually, and these events are exclusively attended by ACCJ members and their accompanied guests. The backbone of the annual agenda is hundreds of engagements with leading experts and shapers of policy and business trends in Japan. Speakers are drawn from the ranks of global business leaders, top U.S. and Japanese government officials, industry experts, scholars and pop culture icons. Former speakers Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe; JP Morgan Japan Director of Research, Jesper Koll; Rakuten Inc CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani; General Electric CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt; U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO, Tom J. Donohue; former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger; U.S. Department of Energy Secretary, Steven Chu; Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood; Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano; U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, and many others have chosen the ACCJ as their forum for addressing Japan’s international business community.
Office of the United States Trade Representative
The USTR participates in the World Trade Organization, which is currently in the Doha Development Round. This is partially managed by the USTR Office of WTO and Multilateral Affairs (WAMA). Relevant WTO agreements include the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Generalized System of Preferences.
China–United States trade war
China and the United States are engaged in a trade war as each country continues to dispute tariffs placed on goods traded between them. US President Donald Trump had promised in his campaign to fix China's "longtime abuse of the broken international system and unfair practices". The economic disputes occurred before China's entry to the World Trade Organization but former Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all failed to solve the problems. In April 2018, the United States filed a request for consultation to the World Trade Organization in regard to concerns that China was violating intellectual property rights.
World Tourism Organization
The Secretariat is responsible for implementing UNWTO's programme of work and serving the needs of members and affiliate members. The group is led by Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili of Georgia, who supervises about 110 full-time staff at UNWTO's Madrid headquarters. The Secretariat also includes a regional support office for Asia-Pacific in Osaka, Japan, financed by the Japanese Government, and a liaison office in Geneva as UNWTO's representation to the UN System, the World Trade Organization, and other diplomatic organizations in Switzerland.
John L. Thornton
John Lawson Thornton (born January 2, 1954) is a Professor and Director of the Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is also Executive Chairman of Barrick Gold Corporation and Non-Executive Chairman of PineBridge Investments. Thornton retired as President of Goldman Sachs in 2003.
Trade agreement
There have been however some concerns expressed by the WTO. According to Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the WTO, the proliferation of RTA “...is breeding concern — concern about incoherence, confusion, exponential increase of costs for business, unpredictability and even unfairness in trade relations.” The position of the WTO is that while the typical trade agreements (called "preferential" or "regional" by the WTO) are useful to a degree, it is much more beneficial to focus on global agreements in the WTO framework such as the negotiations of the current Doha round.
Amina Mohamed
According to the "Business Daily Africa" publication, "Kenya’s rigorous lobbying and aggressive pan-Africanism agenda gained momentum with the collapse of International and Criminal Court (ICC) cases against Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto partly because attributed to Ms Mohamed’s skillful diplomatic manoeuvres." The same publication reported that Mohamed by late 2016 had “come under heavy criticism for remaining tight-lipped over the suffering of Kenyan detainees in Ethiopia.” Also, in December 2016 she stated that Kenya supported “Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic’s quest for self-rule and its membership of the African Union,” which proved controversial with Morocco and other Arab states. She is currently the chairwoman of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference.
Government Communications Security Bureau
On 16 March 2015, Snowden released more documents which revealed that the GCSB had a secret listening post, codenamed "Caprica", at the New Zealand High Commission in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara. The "Caprica" outpost was reportedly modeled after the NSA's Stateroom outposts at selected United States Embassies across the world. On 22 March 2015, The Intercept released a new document which showed that the GCSB had monitored the email and internet communications of several foreign diplomats vying for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization. This surveillance was carried out on behalf of the New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser, who was also competing for that position. Known targets included candidates from Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana, Jordan, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and South Korea. Ultimately, Groser's candidature was unsuccessful and the Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevêdo was elected as the Director General of the WTO on May 2013. In response to these disclosures, Sergio Danese, the Secretary-General of the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations summoned the New Zealand Ambassador Caroline Bilkey to explain the actions of her government.
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Established as the Office of the Special Trade Representative (STR) under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President. With over 200 employees, the USTR has offices in Geneva, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium. The current U.S. Trade Representative is Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, who was announced by President-Elect Donald J. Trump on January 3, 2017. Lighthizer was confirmed by the Senate on May 11, 2017, by a vote of 82–14.
World Trade Organization
The procedures for the appointment of the WTO director-general were published in January 2003. Additionally, there are four deputy directors-general. , under director-general Roberto Azevêdo, the four deputy directors-general are
Kunio Mikuriya
Kunio Mikuriya (Japanese: 御厨 邦雄, "Mikuriya Kunio") is the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO).
International Trade Centre
ITC's Executive Director is a senior international civil servant of the United Nations with the level of Assistant Secretary-General. ITC's Executive Director as well as the Deputy-Executive Director are appointed by the heads of its two parent organizations: the Director-General of the WTO and the Secretary-General of the UNCTAD.
Joakim Reiter
Joakim Reiter is the former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Prior to this appointment of 8 January 2015 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Reiter served as a Deputy Director General with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden.
Millennium Challenge Corporation
The MCC Board is made up of representatives. These include the MCC's CEO, the U.S. Secretary of State who is the chair, the Secretary of Treasury who is the vice chair, the administrator of USAID, the U.S. Trade Representative and other private-sector or development-related officials.
Observatory on Digital Communication
Since its inception, the IWC has reached a high government level, thanks to the presence of high-ranking officials such as: Staffan de Mistura, General Secretary Personal Representative; Armida de Lopez Contreras, Vice President of Honduras; John Negroponte, former US Ambassador, Israel Chris, Deputy Secretary US department of Commerce (which announced in 2003 the creation of the Millennium Challenge Account by the Bush administration); Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux, President of the UNESCO General Assembly; Hisanori Isomura, president of CICT-UNESCO and ambassador of Japan in Paris; Mario Baccini, Italian foreign minister; Carlos A. Braga, director of the World Bank; Donaldo Ochoa, director of the Central American Bank for Economic Intregation; Giuseppe Gargani, president of the European Parliament's Media and Culture Committee; Adriana de Kanter, director of the US Department of Education; Guido Podestà, Vice-President of the European Parliament; Arturo Vallarino, Vice-President of the Republic of Panama; John Shirley, President of the Navajo Nation; John Gage, co-founder Sun Microsystems; Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General ITU; Shashi Tharoor, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Communications and Public Information; Montassar Ouali, Tunisian Minister of Communication; Enrique Planas, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Social Communication; Sarbuland Khan, Director UN – GAID; and many others.
Gro Harlem Brundtland
In 2006 Brundtland was a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons who reviewed the work of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In May 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Brundtland, as well as Ricardo Lagos (the former president of Chile), and Han Seung-soo (the former foreign minister of South Korea), to serve as UN Special Envoys for Climate Change.
Transatlantic Economic Council
The Council is co-chaired by an EU and a U.S. official. Currently,they are: Caroline Atkinson, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs; and Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade. It meets at least once a year, called by the chairs.
List of specialized agencies of the United Nations
The WTO was established instead of the failed proposal for a specialized agency dealing with trade issues, the International Trade Organization. WTO headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
Tom J. Donohue
Thomas J. Donohue Sr. (born 1938) is the President and CEO of the United States Chamber of Commerce located in Washington, D.C. The Chamber of Commerce supports pro-business causes and is the largest and oldest trade association in the United States. The Chamber is the largest lobbying group in the U.S., spending more money than any other lobbying organization on a yearly basis. Donohue has been the Chamber's president since 1997.
Valentine Rugwabiza
From 2005 until 2013, Rugwabiza was Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization, the first woman to hold the position. She is a founding member of the Rwanda Private Sector Federation, the Rwanda Women Entrepreneurs’ Organization and the Rwandese Women Leaders’ Caucus.
World Trade Organization
The above five listings are the additional functions of the World Trade Organization. As globalization proceeds in today's society, the necessity of an International Organization to manage the trading systems has been of vital importance. As the trade volume increases, issues such as protectionism, trade barriers, subsidies, violation of intellectual property arise due to the differences in the trading rules of every nation. The World Trade Organization serves as the mediator between the nations when such problems arise. WTO could be referred to as the product of globalization and also as one of the most important organizations in today's globalized society.
United States Secretary of Commerce
The current Commerce Secretary is Wilbur Ross, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and approved by the Senate on February 28, 2017.
Deborah Platt Majoras
Deborah Platt Majoras is the former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, appointed May 11, 2004, by President George W. Bush and sworn in on August 16, 2004. President Bush had announced his intention to appoint her to the position on July 30, 2004. In early 2008, she announced that she was leaving the FTC to become Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Procter & Gamble, the largest consumer products company in the United States.
Alan John Kyerematen
Ghana, on 17 December 2012, nominated Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen for the post of WTO Director-General to succeed the current Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, whose term of office expired on 31 August 2013. His candidature has received the backing of the Africa Union (AU)but he did not make the final shortlist for the position During his interaction with the media to state his case to head the WTO, Kyerematen noted that the WTO provides “a firewall against protectionism”. He was asked whether the director-general should take a stand in the battle over whether increasingly wealthy countries such as Brazil should continue to be able to self-identify as developing, a status that allows them to be freed from some of the subsidy restrictions placed on developed countries. Kyerematen said that the director-general should undertake “an open, coherent” dialogue on the topic. There needs to be debate, he said, over whether “there is a need to subdivide the existing divisions". On whether technical acumen is the sole requisite for the job, Kyerematen opined that “political insights are vital" for the job because “in the end you have an organization to run.”
Thomas W. Bifwoli
Mr. Thomas W. Bifwoli was subsequently re-appointed for one year to continue serving on the Panel until Sept 2007. On 5 December 2007, he was appointed by the UN secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be the coordinator of the Panel until 15 October 2008 . Mr. Bifwoli now works as the head of the World Customs Organization Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (WCO RILO) for Eastern and Southern Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Cabinet of Donald Trump
Various other Trump administration appointees are directly involved with economic matters, for example, director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, National Trade Council director Peter Navarro, SEC chairman Jay Clayton, OMB director Mick Mulvaney, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and SBA administrator Linda McMahon.
On May 16, 2017, Trump nominated Dr. Kevin Hassett to be chair of the council. He took office on September 13, 2017.
Washington International Trade Association
In addition to an Annual Awards Dinner, WITA holds approximately 30-40 international trade related events every year. Many of the events take place in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
Congressmen, trade ministers, and other notable figures in the international trade sphere have been part of panels and informational sessions regarding international policy.
Previous event speakers at WITA have been Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX).
In 2010, the South Korean Trade Minister spoke at an event sponsored by WITA. In addition, WITA hosted an event that was held on June 8, 2010 in honor of the FIFA World Cup 2010. The trade event featured a Trade in the Americas Panel and A World Cup Kickoff Celebration afterward.
In 2011, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) were honored at the WITF/WITA Annual Dinner for their extraordinary contributions toward the facilitation of international trade.
The following year, on July 18, 2012 at the WITA/WITF Annual Awards Dinner, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Congressman David Dreier (R-CA) were honored. Often, events held by WITA are mentioned in the Washington Tariff & Trade Letter and other trade publications
Free trade
Most countries in the world are members of the World Trade Organization, which limits in certain ways but does not eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers. Most countries are also members of regional free trade areas that lower trade barriers among participating countries. The EU and the US are negotiating a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Initially led by the U.S., twelve countries that have borders on the Pacific Ocean are currently in private negotiations around the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is being touted by the negotiating countries as a free trade policy. In January 2017, the United States pulled out of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Parternship.
Michael Punke
In 2009, President Barack Obama selected Punke to serve as the Deputy United States Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Obama's selection of Punke for this position was also confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2011.
Ministerial Conference
The Ministerial Conference is the top decision making body of the World Trade Organization (WTO). There have been eleven ministrial conferences from 1996 to 2017, usually every two years.
Peter Sutherland
In 1993, he became Director-General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World Trade Organization). Later Mickey Kantor, the US Trade Minister, credited him with being the father of globalization and said that without him there would have been no WTO. The Uruguay round of global trade talks, concluded in December 1993 with Sutherland as chair of GATT, produced a "comprehensive, rules-based and global trade regime" which was the biggest trade agreement in history and established the World Trade Organization. His integral role in the successful conclusion of these negotiations has been cited as "indispensable". Chairing the Uruguay Round, Sutherland "employed tactics the likes of which had never been seen before in GATT…he worked to create the sense of unstoppable momentum" by mobilising the press and media and instigating "a more aggressive public relations than the staid GATT had ever before seen".
International Labour Organization
The Commission has two co-chairpersons: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and South African President Cyril Ramphosa.
China–United States trade war
In June 2016, as presidential candidate, Donald Trump vowed to cancel international trade deals and go on an offensive against Chinese economic practices, describing his promise as a reaction against "a leadership class that worships globalism." Less than a year after he took office, the United States, European Union and Japan, agreed to work within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other multilateral groups to eliminate unfair subsidies by countries, which create noncompetitive conditions through state-owned enterprises, “forced” technology transfers and local content requirements.
World Trade Organization
The WTO deals with regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. The WTO prohibits discrimination between trading partners, but provides exceptions for environmental protection, national security, and other important goals. Trade-related disputes are resolved by independent judges at the WTO through a dispute resolution process.
Bloomberg Global Business Forum
Speakers at the 2017 Global Business Forum included former president Bill Clinton, Mike Bloomberg, Microsoft founder and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation cofounder Bill Gates, Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, Apple CEO Tim Cook, PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi and NBA superstar LeBron James. Heads of state and global organization speakers included French President Emmanuel Macron, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, former Joint Chiefs chair Adm. Mike Mullen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and World Bank Group president Jim Kim.
Chitra Subramaniam
In 1997, Chitra Subramaniam was invited by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Prime Minister of Norway to be part of her campaign team for the post of Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Brundtland was elected as head of the WHO and she announced that global tobacco control was one of her priorities setting up a special project called which oversaw multilateral negotiations between 198 countries to conclude the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first treaty entirely devoted to public health. Chitra Subramaniam led the work initially on media and later in policy analysis and communications. "She reframed the debate on tobacco away from being one focused on individual frailties to one that needed to address tobacco corporate abuses and in so doing built a reinvigorated tobacco control movement. Many of her approaches used in tobacco control continue to be adapted to address other threats to health," said Dr. Derek Yacht, Senior Vice-President Pepsi (Health), USA, who worked with Subramaniam at the WHO.
Pravin Gordhan
Gordhan was chairman of the World Customs Organization in from 2000 to 2006.
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2013
The Ninth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference was held in Bali, Indonesia from 3 to 7 December 2013. The conference was chaired by the Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan.
Gene Dodaro
Eugene Louis Dodaro (born May 7, 1951) is the Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). From October 1, 2000 until March 12, 2008 he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the GAO and he held the equivalent 2nd-in-command title before the late 2000 restructuring of the GAO, Principal Assistant Comptroller General, a title he had held since May 1999. (Note that this change of titles is a result of the organization-wide restructuring rather than a promotion or other event in his career; from May 1999 through to March 12, 2008 Dodaro retained the position of second in command of the GAO.)
World Customs Organization
The WCO Secretariat is headed by a Secretary General, who is elected by the WCO membership to a five-year term. The current WCO Secretary General is Kunio Mikuriya from Japan, who took office on 1 January 2009. 
The WCO is governed by the Council, which brings together all Members of the Organization once a year, in a meeting chaired by an elected Chairperson. Additional strategic and management guidance is provided by the Policy Commission and the Finance Committee.
Several WCO committees, such as the Harmonized System Committee, the Permanent Technical Committee, the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation, Technical Committee on Rules of Origin, the Capacity Building Committee, and the SAFE Working Group, provide a platform for developing instruments and best practices on customs competencies.
Arancha Gonzalez
Arancha González Laya (born 22 May 1969) is a Spanish economist and currently the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, the joint agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Trade Organization. She was appointed to this position in August 2013.
Jim Bacchus
The WTO dispute settlement system resolves international disputes involving more than 98% of all world commerce. Bacchus was nominated on a bipartisan basis by the United States and twice appointed to the Appellate Body by consensus of the now 164 countries that are Members of the WTO. Mr. Bacchus served eight years as a founding judge, the only American judge, and one of the seven judges worldwide on the highest global tribunal for world trade. He was twice elected as Chairman by his fellow judges, in 2002 and 2003. Bacchus Judged every international trade dispute and wrote landmark legal opinions along with six colleagues during the first decade of the WTO, every appellate judgment in every appeal during that time was by consensus. He helped establish the Appellate Body as a leading global tribunal and the WTO dispute settlement system as a leading framework for resolving international disputes and upholding the international rule of law. Bacchus was described by The American Lawyer magazine as “the John Marshall of the World Trade Organization” (March 2004).
European Commissioner for Trade
The European Commissioner for Trade (sometimes referred to as the "EU Trade Commissioner") is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy (governing international trade). The portfolio has been held by Cecilia Malmström (Sweden – FP / ALDE) since November 2014.
Wanja Lundby-Wedin
Wanja Elisabeth Lundby-Wedin (born 19 October 1952 in Enskede, Södermanland, Sweden) was the President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( or "LO") from 2000 to 2012. From May 2007 until May 2011, she was the President of the European Trade Union Confederation.
Tim Groser
Groser made international headlines in late 2012 when he said that the New Zealand Government would not sign up for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Tim Groser said the 15-year-old agreement was outdated, and that New Zealand was "ahead of the curve" in looking for a replacement that would include developing nations.
In December 2012, the New Zealand Government announced that it was supporting Groser's bid to become the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization, a position which became vacant at the end of May 2013 with the retirement of Pascal Lamy. Groser's bid was eventually unsuccessful and the Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevêdo was elected as the Director General of the WTO on May 2013. On 22 March 2015, Edward Snowden's The Intercept news website claimed that New Zealand's signals intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, had spied on other WTO directorship contenders on behalf of Groser. Known targets included candidates from Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana, Jordan, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and South Korea.
International Trade Administration
The Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade is the principal officer of the United States Department of Commerce charged with promoting American exports and assisting general international trade. As the Administrator of the International Trade Administration, the Under Secretary also sits on the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and serves as a member of the Tourism Policy Council and the National Intellectual Property Council. The Under Secretary participates in the development of United States trade policy, identifies and resolves market access and compliance issues, administers American trade laws, and undertakes a range of trade promotion and trade advocacy efforts.
Doha Development Round
Doha Round talks are overseen by the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), whose chair is the WTO’s director-general, currently Roberto Azevêdo. The negotiations are being held in five working groups and in other existing bodies of the WTO. Selected topics under negotiation are discussed below in five groups: market access, development issues, WTO rules, trade facilitation and other issues.
International Publishers Association
The President for 2011-2013 is Youngsuk “Y.S.” Chi (Elsevier, U.S.A.), and the Vice Presidents are Ibrahim El Moallem (Dar El Shorouk; Egypt), and Alain Kouck (Editis, France). The current Secretary General is Jens Bammel.IPA has official consultative status with United Nations organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU), World Trade Organization (WTO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Recently, IPA has participated in the WIPO Stakeholder Platform, an initiative to explore the specific needs and concerns of copyright owners and reading-impaired persons.
Joseph Simons
Joseph Simons is an anti-trust attorney and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
José Ángel Gurría
José Ángel Gurría Treviño, also known as Ángel Gurría, (born 8 May 1950) is a Mexican economist and diplomat. Since 1 June 2006 he has been the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Director-General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The Director-General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was responsible for supervising the administrative functions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The first Director-General, Eric Wyndham White, was appointed on March 23, 1965. GATT had a total of 5 Director-Generals until the WTO was formed in 1995. Peter Sutherland was the last Director-General of GATT, and the first of the WTO.
Black Sea Trade and Development Bank
The Bank is overseen by the Board of Governors, Board of Directors, the President, three Vice Presidents and the Secretary General. The head of the Board of Directors and the chief executive of the Bank is the Director. Board of Directors appoints the Vice Presidents and the Secretary General. In 2018, Dmitry Pankin was appointed the President for the term of four years.
PortsToronto
The current chief executive officer (CEO) is Geoffrey A. Wilson, who joined the TPA on December 11, 2009. Wilson was previously the chief operating officer of Cartel Communications Systems Inc. and was an executive with various transportation firms. Gene Cabral is the Executive Vice President of Billy Bishop Airport and oversees all airport operations. Alan Paul is the CFO. The current harbourmaster is Angus Armstrong, who has held the post since 2004. Ken Lundy is Vice President of Planning, Infrastructure and Environment. Deborah Wilson is Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs and Craig Manuel is Vice President Legal Affairs.
Current members of the board:Past members of the board have included:
L. Alan Winters
Leonard Alan Winters CB (born 1950) is a Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and former Chief Economist at the Department for International Development (DFID). His speciality is the empirical and policy analysis of international trade. He was Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank (2003-07), and worked at the bank intermittently in a range of posts since 1994. He is a fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the IZA and a former Programme Director at the former. In the UK his previous posts have included spells at Cambridge, Bristol, Wales and Birmingham universities. He has served on several editorial boards including the "World Bank Economic Review", "The Economic Journal", and "The World Trade Review". He has acted as a consultant for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Commission and Parliament, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organization, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
United States Department of Commerce
Wilbur Ross is the current Commerce secretary.
Dennis Shea (lawyer)
Dennis Shea is an American lawyer and government official who is currently serving as the Deputy United States Trade Representative and Chief of Mission of Geneva where he represents the United States as Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Shea previously served as the vice chairman of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission. In July 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Shea as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative.
Veerstichting
Mike Moore - former prime minister of New Zealand and Director-General of the World Trade Organization
Timeline of the World Trade Organization
This is a timeline of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
International Trade Organization
The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, which established an international institution for monetary policy, recognized the need for a comparable international institution for trade to complement the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Bretton Woods was attended by representatives of finance ministries and not by representatives of trade ministries, the proposed reason why a trade agreement was not negotiated at that time.
Lori Wallach
Lori Wallach is the Director and Founder of Global Trade Watch, a division of Public Citizen. 
She is an expert and activist in global trade issues. Wallach has testified before Congress about the effect NAFTA, WTO, and other free trade agreements have on global citizens. She has played a significant role in the negotiations of many free trade agreements by acting as a consumer watch dog.
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that is concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 124 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. It is the largest international economic organization in the world.
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2017
The 11th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 11 to 13 December 2017. It was chaired by Minister Susana Malcorra of Argentina. The Conference ended with a number of ministerial decisions, including on fisheries subsidies and e-commerce duties, and a commitment to continue negotiations in all areas. The conference also led to the formation of working party to enable faster induction of South Sudan in the WTO.
World Bank
Another source of criticism has been the tradition of having an American head the bank, implemented because the United States provides the majority of World Bank funding. "When economists from the World Bank visit poor countries to dispense cash and advice", observed "The Economist" in 2012, "they routinely tell governments to reject cronyism and fill each important job with the best candidate available. It is good advice. The World Bank should take it." Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American, is the most recently appointed president of the World Bank.
Supachai Panitchpakdi
In September 1999 he was elected to become Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), sharing the post with competitor Mike Moore when a decision could not be reached. Taking the second half of the six-year term, he entered office on September 1, 2002.
Patrick Low
Patrick Low was the Chief Economist at the World Trade Organization Secretariat and an honorary professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Advisory Centre on World Trade Organization Law
The General Assembly, the Management Board and the Executive Director.
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London
The current Director-General of the office is Priscilla To, who reports to the Special Representative for Hong Kong Economic & Trade Affairs to the European Union, Brussels ETO.
John Tsang
From August 2003 Tsang was Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology. In this role he was also Chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. For his outstanding performance in the WTO, he even earned praise from Chinese President Hu Jintao.
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2009
The WTO General Council, on 26 May 2009, agreed to hold a seventh WTO ministerial conference session in Geneva from 30 November - 3 December 2009. A statement by chairman Amb. Mario Matus acknowledged that the prime purpose was to remedy a breach of protocol requiring two-yearly "regular" meetings, which had lapsed with the Doha Round failure in 2005, and that the "scaled-down" meeting would not be a negotiating session, but "emphasis will be on transparency and open discussion rather than on small group processes and informal negotiating structures". The general theme for discussion is "The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment".
Labour standards in the World Trade Organization
The WTO is an international institution that deals with the rules of trade between countries with the view of inter alia "raising standards of living, [and] ensuring full employment…". This is achieved through a series of trade liberalising agreements based on consensus from the WTO's 164 members who form the General Council. The General Council, sitting as the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) has the jurisdictional power to solve disputes brought before it, and is able to approve trade restrictive measures to enforce compliance with agreements. The WTO's dispute settlement process is compulsory and the DSB's recommendations and rulings immediately become binding international law.