GENEVA: The United States has paused contributions to the World Trade Organization, three trade sources told Reuters, as US President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up efforts to cut government spending.
The Trump administration is retreating from global institutions it sees as at odds with his ‘America First’ economic policies. It plans to quit some, such as the World Health Organisation, and has cut contributions to others as part of a broad review of federal spending.
The WTO has already been hobbled by a US move in 2019 during Trump’s first term to block new judge appointments to its top appeals court, which left its key dispute settlement system only partially functional. Washington had accused the WTO Appellate Body of judicial overreach in trade disputes.
The Geneva-based trade watchdog had an annual budget of 205 million Swiss francs ($232.06 million) in 2024. The United States was due to contribute about 11 per cent of that based on a fees system that is proportionate to its share of global trade, according to public WTO documents.
A US delegate told a March 4 WTO budget meeting that its payments to the 2024 and 2025 budgets were on hold pending a review of contributions to international organisations and that it would inform the WTO of the outcome at an unspecified date, two trade sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said.
A third trade source confirmed their account and said the WTO was coming up with a ‘Plan B’ in case of a prolonged funding pause, without elaborating. All three sources asked for confidentiality because the budget meeting was private and the US funding pause has not been formally announced.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A State Department spokesperson said Trump last month signed an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review within 180 days all international organisations the US is a member of “to determine if they are contrary to US interests”.
“Funding for the WTO, along with other international organisations, is currently under review,” the spokesperson said. An official from the office of the US Trade Representative said on Friday that the Secretary of State was conducting a “general review of US funding to all international organisations”. “USTR is coordinating with the State Department as it relates to the WTO.”
WTO spokesperson Ismaila Dieng said that US contributions had been on the way but “got caught up in the pause of all payments to international agencies”. “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,” he said, referring further questions to US authorities.
As of end-December 2024, the United States had arrears of 22.7 million Swiss francs ($25.7 million), according to a WTO document obtained by Reuters marked ‘RESTRICTED’ and dated February 21.