Liam Fox through to next round in WTO director general contest
Liam Fox, Britain’s pick for the next director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has made it through to the second round of the selection process.
The former international trade secretary was nominated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July, after current director general Roberto Azevedo stepped down following a seven-year tenure.
Three candidates, Jesus Seade, Tudor Ulianovschi and Hamid Mamdouh, have so far withdrawn from the race.
“I want this DG election to be a real choice — we need the best qualified candidate for the job with the ability to deliver what the membership is demanding. I believe I am that candidate,” said Fox.
Fox is running on a platform of reforming parts of the WTO’s rule-making processes, promoting gender equality and safeguarding against protectionism in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said in a statement today: “It cannot be a ‘business as usual’. The WTO was facing very significant challenges before Covid-19. Those headwinds are made all the more urgent by the pandemic.
“Declining trade volumes, disagreements about the normative agenda, and most importantly, a breaking down of the multilateral consensus which enabled the WTO to be established are challenges we need to tackle head-on.”
Current international trade secretary Liz Truss said she continued to support Fox’s nomination and campaign.
The update follows the revelation over the summer that Fox’s email inbox was allegedly hacked ahead of last year’s December General Election, as Russian cyber spies sought papers on US–UK trade deal negotiations.
The papers claimed to be from Fox’s email stoked outrage upon publication, after then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used them to back up his claim the NHS would be “on the table” in post-Brexit trade talks with the US.