WTO looks to quietly ride out aftershocks of Trump tariffs as organization plots future

Open this photo in gallery: WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during the World Economic Forum annual meeting, in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21.FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images From its sleek headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva, the World Trade Organization hopes to quietly ride out the aftershocks of Trump administration tariffs whose protectionist intent runs in the face of its free-trade mandate. For three decades the WTO has worked to maintain a rules-based and obstacle-free trading system as a motor of the global economy. It says the 5.8 per cent average annual increase in trade it has overseen has created jobs and…