Trump admin pauses funding for World Trade Organization pending review: report

At a March 4 WTO budget meeting, a US delegate said that its payments to the 2024 and 2025 budgets had been placed on hold pending a review of payments from the WTO to international organizations, two trade sources with direct knowledge of the meeting told Reuters. The delegate also said that it would inform the WTO of the outcome of the review at an unspecified date in the future.

A third trade source confirmed the two others’ account, and said that a "Plan B" was being created by the Geneva-based trade watchdog group in case there was a lengthy funding pause.

WTO spokesperson Ismaila Dieng told the outlet, "Generally, arrears can impact the operational capacity of the WTO Secretariat. But the Secretariat continues to manage its resources prudently and has plans in place to enable it to operate within the financial limitations imposed by any arrears."

As of the end of 2024, the US had arrears of 22.7 million Swiss francs, or 25.70 million US dollars. Members who fail to pay dues after more than one year are subjected to "administrative measures" under WTO rules, under which a series of punitive steps are put in place that get stricter the longer the fees go unpaid.

Two of the trade sources confirmed to Reuters that the US is classified as being in the first of three categories, under which its representative cannot preside over WTO bodies or receive formal documentation. Five other member nations are in this category: Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, and Gambia.

The WTO’s annual budget in 2024 was 205 million Swiss francs ($232.06 million), to which the US was to contribute around 11 percent of that. Fees are determined by a country’s share of global trade. Most nations give around 2 percent or less.