The European Union and the World Trade Organization

The EU Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) represents the interests of the EU and its 27 Member States in the WTO. The EU Mission is part of the European External Action Service (EEAS) established following the Lisbon Treaty of 2007. The Permanent Delegation of the EU to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva deals with other international organisations in Geneva, such as UN, WIPO etc. whereas the Delegation of the European Union in Bern focuses on bilateral relations with Switzerland. Visa and consular matters are dealt with by delegations of EU Member States in Bern.

The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards, create jobs and improve people’s lives. The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).

The EU supports the central role of the WTO in rule-making, trade liberalisation and sustainable development. EU plays a major role in the WTO since the EU is the world’s biggest trading bloc. And the WTO is at the centre of trade because around 70% of global trade is conducted on WTO terms. The EU is therefore a strong supporter of the multilateral trading system. The EU and its Member States are collectively the largest Aid for Trade donor, representing a third of all support provided globally. The EU and its Member States are also by far the biggest contributors to the WTO budget with a share of more than 30%. However, the global trade landscape has changed fundamentally since the system was established in 1995. The growing mismatch between the current WTO rulebook and today’s trade realities has contributed to the Organization’s crisis. The status quo is not an option. Without meaningful reform, the WTO risks a continued loss of relevance, with broader consequences for the rules-based global trading system. The WTO and its Members must therefore deliver on a deep and comprehensive reform. The EU will continue to play a leading role in this effort, working closely with its WTO partners to shape a multilateral trading system that reflects today’s economic realities and responds to future challenges.

The WTO provides a forum for its members to negotiate trade agreements and to resolve the trade problems they face with each other.

The WTO is at a critical and, in fact, an existential juncture. [this is optional: The crisis in the WTO reflects broader shifts in the global trade landscape which has changed fundamentally since the system was set up in 1995. Another root cause for the crisis is the increasingly impactful and far-reaching State interventions leading to overcapacities and systemic imbalances, with negative spillovers on other Members. The outdated WTO rules cannot tackle these negative externalities. This is a well-known priority of the EU already included in our previous Communication on WTO reform in 2023 as a key global trade policy challenge (WT/GC/W/864).] Without a strong political commitment by the Membership to a process of deep and comprehensive reform, the organization will slide into irrelevance, and with that the rules-based global trading system will further erode. 

Against this background, the EU has put forward several ideas to modernise the WTO and to develop world trade rules that are fit to face modern challenges.

On 21 January 2026, the EU tabled a submission on WTO reform setting out its vision for a substantially reformed WTO based on three pillars:

1. maintaining predictability through a rules-based system, underpinned by an effective dispute-settlement system;

2. ensuring fairness by revisiting at the balance of rights and obligations, strengthening level-playing-field rules and promoting a more targeted approach to development;

3. injecting more flexibility via improved governance and facilitating plurilateral approaches.

The 14th Ministerial Conference of the WTO (MC14) took place from 26-29 March in Yaoundé, Cameroon. It was expected to be a springboard for reform. Despite very broad support by the Membership for a WTO Reform, no agreement on a pathway forward was reached. The EU remains committed to reforming the multilateral trading system and invites other WTO Members to come forward with submissions and contributions on reform in a member driven process. The European Union stands ready to contribute with concrete proposals on reform in the coming months.

AGRICULTURE

MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS

The current WTO negotiations were launched in November 2001 in Doha (Qatar) with a view to further liberalising trade, whilst making it easier for developing countries to integrate into the WTO multilateral system. Despite the EU's efforts, negotiations in agriculture have stalled. Changes in levels of economic development have in particular increased the importance of some developing countries as major exporters and players in agricultural trade. Negotiations are blocked particularly due to the unwillingness of some WTO members to reform their agricultural policies. Nevertheless, WTO members continue to negotiate to reform agricultural trade.

These multilateral negotiations on agriculture take place in the framework of special sessions of the committee on agriculture with a view to making proposals for the WTO ministerial conferences. At MC12, in a joint Declaration on Food Security, WTO members committed to avoiding unjustified export restrictions on food and improving transparency on any export restrictions that do occur. Moreover, a Decision was taken to completely exempt humanitarian purchases for the World Food Programme from export restrictions.

The EU regrets that members were not able to overcome their differences on a work programme for agriculture. The EU remains committed to reaching a realistic, focused and balanced outcome in the run up to MC13. The EU remains involved in the negotiations on all pillars:

• On Domestic support: reducing trade-distorting measures is an important step towards a fairer agricultural trading system. The EU has transformed its domestic support system, which now mostly comprises non-trade distorting measures. This has improved the functioning of the market for agricultural goods and trade. The EU continues to press other members to move away from trade distorting support measures.
• On Market access: market access for agricultural products forms an integral part of the global trading system. Improvements in market access at the WTO could be best achieved by inclusive and comprehensive negotiations that encompass both agricultural and non-agricultural market access and services. Market access issues are naturally at the heart of bilateral negotiations for free-trade agreements.
• On Export competition: building on the progress achieved in Nairobi, negotiations continue notably with regard to further disciplines on export credits and export credit guarantees, international food aid, and agricultural export state trading enterprises.

FISHERIES SUBSIDIES

MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS

The fisheries subsidies negotiations have taken place in stages. The first stage was concluded by the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) which entered into force on 15 September 2025, leading to the establishment of a new Committee on Fisheries Subsidies. The AFS contains rules on subsidies contributing to illegal fishing, subsidies for fishing on overfished stocks, a complete ban on fishing in the unregulated high seas, and transparency obligations to ensure the Agreement’s implementation. The agreed text can be seen here.

The second stage of the negotiations continued after the AFS was agreed at the twelfth Ministerial Conference in June 2022. However, neither at the thirteenth Ministerial Conference in 2024 nor at subsequent General Council meetings could a deal be reached. That said, one of the outcomes of the fourteenth Ministerial Conference (MC14) was a Ministerial Decision on fisheries subsidies, under which the Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR) is mandated to continue negotiations on additional provisions with a view to achieving a comprehensive agreement on fisheries subsidies. This is linked to Article 12 of the AFS, which provides that: “If comprehensive disciplines are not adopted within four years of the entry into force of this Agreement, and unless otherwise decided by the General Council, this Agreement shall stand immediately terminated.” The deadline to conclude the second-stage negotiations is therefore 15 September 2029.

TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT

PLURILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS

The EU promotes WTO work on the role of trade in advancing climate policy objectives and preserving the environment. 

At multilateral level, the Committee on Trade and Environment has launched a progressive dialogue on Trade-related climate measures focussing on transparency, paving the way for future work on policy coherence and interoperability of Members’ measures.

The EU actively contributes to the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Dialogue (TESSD), the Dialogue on Plastic Pollution (DPP), and the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform initiative (FFSR). These plurilateral initiatives provide flexible platforms to advance trade and environment topics by producing best practices, compilations, and common approaches. They delivered concrete, though non-binding, outcomes for the last WTO Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé.

The Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate, while outside the WTO, is closely linked and helps advance discussions on trade and climate issues among WTO members.

INVESTMENT FACILITATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

PLURILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS

The investment facilitation for development was among the three plurilateral initiatives launched at MC11 in Buenos Aires end of 2017. It gradually evolved as structured discussions among the participating members (initially 70) into actual negotiations of an Agreement, which started in 2020 and concluded on 25 February 2024 with the adoption of a Joint Ministerial Declaration in Abu Dhabi just before MC13. 

The request for the legal incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) into Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement was not discussed at MC13 as one Member blocked any ministerial discussion. Following MC13, IFDA members have re-submitted their request for legal incorporation in the form of a draft General Council decision over two years ten times and most recently at the MC14. The incorporation of IFDA did not materialise at MC14, due to the objection of one Member. 

The Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement aims to improve the transparency and predictability of investment measure as well as streamline and speed up administrative procedures and requirements applying to foreign investors. Furthermore, such an Agreement aims to enhance international cooperation and regulatory coherence, increase the impact of capacity building and technical assistance and contribute to sustainable development. The Agreement does not cover market access, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement.

The Agreement now has 130 participants, with many developing country and LDCs being part of it.  WTO’s research has projected that implementation of the IFD Agreement's mandatory obligations would increase global real GDP by 0.8 per cent over the next ten years, driven by a substantial expansion in global FDI flows and foreign affiliate sales

 (https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd202602_e.pdf).

The EU attaches a great importance to the integration of the Agreement and has contributed actively to the incorporation efforts in Geneva and most recently at the MC14

On the final day of MC14, IFDA member issued a Joint Ministerial Declaration, which reiterates the commitment to 1) ensure the timely entry into force and implementation of the IFD Agreement within the WTO framework; 2) intensify collective efforts to advance IFD needs assessments and relevant technical assistance and capacity-building for implementation; and 3) convene regularly within the WTO

(https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news26_e/infac_30mar26_353_e.htm).

DOMESTIC REGULATION JOINT INITIATIVE

PLURILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS

On 2 December 2021, a group of 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, including the EU, have concluded negotiations in the so called Services Domestic Regulation Joint Initiative. This is a landmark agreement that will significantly cut red tape in services trade and will help to reduce the costs of global services trade by more than USD 150 billion every year.

Services represent the largest and fastest growing sector of today's economy, but complicated rules and procedures have limited the amount of trade in services significantly. The agreed domestic regulation disciplines will align qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards, licensing requirements and procedures for services providers.  It will facilitate trade in services significantly. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises who do not have the same resources and experience to cope with complex processes as do their larger competitors.  The negotiated outcome will also commit Members to non-discrimination between men and women in authorisation processes. This is the first rule of this kind in the WTO.

The negotiated disciplines (in the form of the Reference paper) will be included in each member's GATS Schedules, in line with the timeframe agreed in the Declaration that concluded the negotiations. Members are currently undertaking the necessary domestic procedures ahead of the launch of certification procedures in the WTO later in the year.

For more information: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/jsdomreg_e.htm

E-COMMERCE

PLURILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS

Global rules are needed to develop a common, coherent approach that tackles global challenges effectively, fosters new opportunities, and encourages the expansion of digital trade (or 'e-commerce' as it is historically called in the WTO).

During the 11^th WTO Ministerial Conference, held in Buenos Aires in December 2017, a group of WTO Members decided to explore the opportunity to negotiate rules on e-commerce in the WTO. After a year of exploratory talks, plurilateral WTO negotiations on e-commerce were officially launched in January 2019. 86 WTO Members, including EU Member States, are currently engaged in these negotiations.

Some of the topics in the on-going negotiations include: the facilitation of electronic transactions (e.g. e-contracts, e-signatures, e-payments); enhancing consumer and business trust; addressing barriers related to cross-border data flows and data localisation requirements; protecting computer source code; facilitating online trade in goods (e.g. paperless trade); improving the regulatory conditions for telecommunications services; and improving market access in services sectors and goods that are key for e-commerce.

The EU’s objective in the e-commerce negotiations is to reach an agreement on a comprehensive and ambitious set of WTO rules and obligations. The EU wants to enhance both global and domestic digital trade, facilitate business operations, especially those of SMEs, and to strengthen consumer trust in the online environment. The EU will seek the negotiated outcome to be supported by as many WTO Members as possible, taking into account the different opportunities and challenges that Members may face in relation to e-commerce.

During MC12, the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions (the ‘e-commerce moratorium') was extended, a critical win for the digital economy. WTO members agreed to maintain the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until MC13. The members also agreed to reinvigorate their work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, including challenges and opportunities affecting the developing countries and LDCs.

More on e-commerce negotiations: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/ecom_e/joint_statement_e.htm

With more than 600 registered disputes and more than 500 adjudications since 1995, the Dispute Settlement Mechanism has been by far the most active function of the WTO.  This system of peaceful resolution of disputes between sovereign states or customs territories is the feature that most distinguishes the WTO from all other international organisations, past and present.

The EU is one of the most active supporters of the WTO Dispute Settlement system and has consistently intervened as a Third Party in all WTO disputes.  The EU has also been involved in many cases as a complaining or defending party.

The operation of the Appellate Body was blocked in December 2019.  However, the EU has continued to participate in Panel proceedings both as a main party and as an intervening Third Party.  Moreover, the EU actively participates in all initiatives and negotiations that aim to restore the Appellate Body.  In order to preserve the smooth functioning of the WTO Dispute Settlement system during the absence of the Appellate Body, the European Union has participated in the creation of a Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement, which aims to reproduce as much as possible the operation of the Appellate Body.

Crucially, during MC12, Ministers agreed to restore a fully functioning dispute settlement system no later than 2024.

The EU plays an active role in the regular work of the WTO. This work is mainly carried out in the Councils and Committees tasked with the administration of various WTO agreements and with monitoring their implementation. Additional and important regular work in the WTO includes trade policy reviews as a central part of the surveillance of WTO members' trade policies.