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Okonjo-Iweala, who made history as the first woman and the first African to lead the World Trade Organization (WTO), was the sole candidate in the race for the position and had effectively been guaranteed a second term.
Her leadership continues to be celebrated globally, particularly as she navigates the WTO through a period of increasing challenges and shifting global trade dynamics.
The first woman and first African to lead the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala was the uncontested candidate for a second term. Her reappointment had been all but confirmed, as the global community continued to place their trust in her ability to steer the organization through turbulent economic waters.
The WTO confirmed in a statement that its 166 members have agreed to reappoint Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for a second term as director-general. This decision marks a continued endorsement of her leadership, as she steers the organization through a turbulent period in global trade.
The World Trade Organization revealed that its General Council unanimously approved the reappointment of the 70-year-old Nigerian economist during a private meeting. Okonjo-Iweala’s second term has now been secured by broad consensus, underscoring the confidence in her leadership at this critical juncture for global trade.
Her current tenure as director-general is scheduled to end in August 2025, and the process for appointing a new leader was initially expected to take several months. The swift reappointment, however, underscores the confidence the WTO members have in Okonjo-Iweala’s ongoing leadership.
But with Okonjo-Iweala the only candidate, African countries called for the process to be speeded up, officially to facilitate preparations for the WTO’s next big ministerial conference, set to be held in Cameroon in 2026.
The unstated objective is to “accelerate the process, because they did not want Trump’s team to come in and veto her as they did four years ago”, said Keith Rockwell, a senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.
The common practice of appointing directors-general by consensus made it possible in 2020 for Trump to block Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment for months, forcing her to wait to take the reins until after President Joe Biden entered the White House in early 2021.
The overwhelming support for Okonjo-Iweala’s second term came “not so much (because) everyone loves Ngozi”, a source close to the discussions told AFP.
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Rather, members were “worried that if she doesn’t get reinstated, then it’s possible that the administration in Washington would slow things (or) block other contenders”, leaving a void at the top, the source said.
“The alternative of no-one leading the organisation is unacceptable to them.”
Rockwell, a former WTO spokesman, told AFP that speeding up Okonjo-Iweala’s reappointment “creates tensions in the relationship with the United States, for sure — tensions which would probably have been there under any circumstances, but now this raises the stakes”.
During Trump’s first term, the WTO faced relentless attacks from his administration, which crippled the organisation’s dispute settlement appeal system, and also threatened to pull the United States out of the organisation altogether.
And Trump has already signalled he is preparing to launch all-out trade wars, threatening to unleash a flurry of tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico on his first day in office on January 20.
“The festival of tariffs announced to date shows that he has no intention of following any rules,” said Elvire Fabry, a researcher at the Institut Jacques Delors think-tank.
