WTO Chief urges cooperation in Japan trade talks

Director General of World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala met with the Japanese Prime Minister Tuesday during her three-day trip to Japan. “Trade is facing very challenging times right now and it is quite difficult,” she said during the meeting in Tokyo.

The United States and China agreed to roll back most of the tariffs each nation had imposed on the other and declared a 90-day truce in their trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said it would reduce the 145% duties it had imposed on imports from China to 30%, while China said it would cut its 125% tariffs on U.S. goods to 10%. Some of the U.S. tariffs — 24 percentage points — will be delayed for 90 days, while the rest of have been removed. “I also feel that there are many important opportunities in trade that we need to look forward to.

And we should try to use this crisis as an opportunity to solve the challenges we have and take advantage of the new trends in trade,” Okonjo-Iweala added. Okonjo-Iweala is also expected to meet Japan’s Foreign Minister, Finance Minister and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister.