The global system as we once knew it has changed, and the time has come to move forward, to reform, and above all to rethink the founding rules of the World Trade Organization.

In essence, this is the objective of the WTO’s four days of meetings and inter-ministerial sessions taking place in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, since Thursday.

The embattled World Trade Organization met against a backdrop of global economic turmoil sparked by conflict in the Middle East and rising protectionism, facing the threat of “disorderly collapse” if it fails to strike a new deal on global rules.

Its director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the multilateral system ‌has fundamentally changed and that countries must look to the future to consider how to reform the global trade system.

“The ​world order and multilateral system we used to ​know has irrevocably changed. We will not get ⁠it back …We must look to the future,” she told delegates at the opening session of the ​14th WTO ministerial conference.

“That means figuring out what worked well in the old order so we can keep it and build on it. It means figuring out what did not work well so we can repair it. And it also means identifying the gaps in the renewed order we are shaping so we can close them,” she said.

The gathering comes as the world faces a war in the Middle East, notably involving the United States, Iran, and Israel, which has triggered a major global energy crisis.

At the same time, the international trade organisation has already been weakened by internal divisions. Okonjo-Iweala said decisive action is needed.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that Trump’s aggressive trade policies were “a corrective response to a trading system, embodied by the WTO, that has overseen and contributed to severe and sustained imbalances”.

The status quo, he said in a video statement, had become “economically unworkable and politically unacceptable”, insisting that the “new world order” would involve agreements between smaller groups, rather than “wasting years and even decades to agree on a lowest common denominator”.

Washington is particularly critical of the WTO’s “most-favoured nation” (MFN) principle, which requires countries to apply the same tariffs to all trading partners. MFN currently governs 72 percent of global trade, but Greer said the system had failed to promote reciprocity within the trade system.

However, China leapt to the defence of the system, with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao telling delegates that MFN must remain the “bedrock” of the global trade system, warning that if member states begin treating each other differently, it would open a “Pandora’s box”.

The European Union signalled it wished to rethink MFN, mainly due to its concerns about China. EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic told delegates that Brussels envisaged a “more flexible framework of rules” with agreements among groups of countries.

The US supports reforms, but is resisting a detailed work plan, while the EU, the United Kingdom, and China back one. UK Trade Minister Chris Bryant warned of potential fragmentation if no deal is reached on reforms.

“My anxiety is if we ministers don’t get this week right, you might see a disorderly collapse of the WTO and some people writing a new rulebook,” he said.

The gathering in Yaounde follows years of stalled multilateral trade deals.

Over the next few days, the 4,000 delegates in Yaounde will be discussing the organisation’s future as the world trading system faces significant uncertainty due to the conflict and tariffs imposed on countries by the United States.

Source: Africanews/Joël Honoré Kouam/Al Jazeera, AFP and Reuters