US blocking appointment to key WTO body, Trump may soon be the only winner in any trade dispute

NEW DELHI: The US has been blocking the appointment of members of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body, a move that experts said could render it incapable of hearing and resolving disputes arising out of Washington’s decision to increase tariffs on steel and aluminium and other protectionist measures.

Citing disagreements with the procedures followed and some of the body’s rulings, the US has been preventing vacancies in the seven-member Appellate Body from being filled for almost two years, which has affected its functioning even as disputes continue to pile up.

“The US has already crippled the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism. There is no point going to dispute,” said Biswajit Dhar, a professor at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.


The Appellate Body is an international tribunal that countries approach when they are unable to resolve matters with their trading partners. It hears appeals from reports issued by panels in disputes brought by WTO members.

It has seven members appointed by Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to serve for four-year terms. Each person may be reappointed for another four-year term. The DSB is made up of all WTO members and is governed by Dispute Settlement Understanding. The current chairperson of Appellate Body is Ujal Singh Bhatia from India.

“The move goes against the tenet of multilateralism, which we have been trying to strengthen. Kneejerk reactions by the US will impede market access to developing countries, especially when dispute resolution is under pressure in WTO,” said a New Delhi-based trade analyst. At present, there are only four members in the body and if it dips to two, it cannot operate since each case requires at least three sitting members.

In May 2016, the US Trade Representative said it would block the reappointment of South Korean member Seung Wha Chang for a second term as it objected to his role in a series of decisions with which the US disagreed. The US wants WTO members, not the Appellate Body, to approve the continued service of former members.

“The body is dysfunctional for all practical purposes and the US is responsible for that. The US is unmindful of the only crown of WTO, which is dispute settlement,” said another Delhi-based trade expert.

Trade experts also say it is difficult to predict the US’ policies. “The US can’t be taken on face value. It has played a shrewd game and manipulated the world trade system,” Dhar said.