Geneva ¨C The World Trade Organization is set to cut about 10% of its spending ¡ª including hiring freezes and reductions in short-term staff ¡ª after the U.S. fell back into arrears and a growing number of members failed to pay their dues on time, according to classified WTO documents.
The watchdog for global trade rules since ?1995 has already been tested by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs that upended international trade as well as by ?more ?than six years of paralysis after Trump's first administration in 2019 began blocking appointments to the ?organization's top appeals court.
Washington ¡ª usually the biggest contributor to the Geneva-based body ¡ª is one of 10 members in Category 1 arrears, meaning it has not paid its contributions for at least a year but for less than two years, adding to ?growing financial pressure on the organization, internal documents dated March 12 and Feb. 18 from its Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration showed.
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