Iweala’s nomination threatened as UK fronts Liam Fox to head WTO

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Nigeria’s candidate for the top job at the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is being threatened as Liam Fox has been fronted as Britain’s candidate to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Iweala was also adopted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as it’s sole candidate.
She was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier this month and have enjoyed wide support of the African Continent to take the number one job at WTO.
However, Liam, the former UK trade secretary who was sacked by Boris Johnson in 2018 had remained loyal to the prime minister and is said to be a popular choice among Tory backbenchers.

However, Fox also has a rival for the WTO job in the person of Peter Mandelson, the former Labour cabinet minister and EU trade commissioner, who may get the nod from Downing Street.
Other potential candidates gunning for the top job include Arancha Gonzalez, the Spanish foreign minister; Amina Mohamed, the former Kenyan foreign minister and UN official; and Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch trade minister.

Dr Fox is under consideration at a critical time for the WTO, which is at the heart of the Conservative Party’s vision for signing post-Brexit free-trade deals with countries across the world.
However, the WTO has been crippled by the US-China trade war and left unable to adjudicate trade disputes since last December, when Donald Trump refused to appoint US judges to its appellate body.
The 58-year-old former trade secretary has close links in Washington and would need its support, or backing from one of the other big WTO power brokers, to land the job.
But support from the Trump administration could backfire elsewhere in the world, given the president’s attempts to sabotage the workings of the WTO that have created the biggest crisis in its 25-year history.
In another development, there is commotion in the European Union over the nomination of Phil Hogan, the Irish former minister and current EU trade commissioner, with some national leaders keen for him to stay in Brussels.

Ministers have until 8 July to nominate a candidate and will meet this week to discuss the issue, The Times had reported.