WTO, IMF, World Bank seek ‘urgent' international trade reforms

(Oct 1): The World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank issued an emergency call to reform the multilateral trading system as the US retreats from prior agreements.

"The urgent challenge today is to harness the unique strength of the WTO," the bodies said Sunday in a joint report. "The slow pace of reforms since the early 2000s, fundamental changes in a more interconnected modern economy, and the risk of trade policy reversals call for urgency to reinvigorate trade policy reforms."

President Donald Trump has harshly criticised globalism in general and questioned America’s participation in multilateral institutions like the WTO during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

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