WTO still dithers while climate change, pandemic and trade war threaten the globe | South China Morning Post

Over the past weekend, as the long-awaited World Trade Organization 12th ministerial meeting was set to open in Geneva, I imagined the following headline: "Ministerial ends with decisions on fish subsidies, e-commerce duties; ongoing work continues". I imagined countries' confirming their commitment to cooperate on trade problems. I imagined an easing of the US-China tariff war and a boost in trade to help the global economy recover from the deepest recession in almost a century. But there is a minor time-warp problem. This was the WTO news report's headline for the ministerial meeting, but it was on December 13, 2017…