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The gate with the logo of WTO at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
Image: Salvatore Di Nolfi/picture alliance/KEYSTONE

World Trade Organization (WTO)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the global body that regulates international trade, ensuring fair rules and resolving disputes to facilitate smooth trade between member states.

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All Content on this topic

Kamerun Sicherheitskräfte in Buea

AfricaLink on Air – 12 June 2020

Burundi's president-elect to take power immediately +++ Cameroon soldiers charged over Ngarr-buh massacre
June 12, 202030:00 min
Cargo ships

German exports take unprecedented dive

In a month-on-month comparison, German shipments abroad decreased by 24%, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus crisi
BusinessJune 9, 2020
Roberto Azevedo

WTO chief resigns amid appeals crisis with US

The WTO has come under pressure to justify its relevance after the US paralyzed its ability to settle disputes.
PoliticsMay 14, 2020
DW Business Asia Sendungslogo

DW Business Asia

Germany, US and China are biggest WTO beneficiaries - Montenegro highway: China’s Balkan buyout?
BusinessDecember 30, 201912:20 min
Germany's port of Hamburg

US, China, Germany free trade's biggest winners

The three countries have benefited the most from membership of the World Trade Organization, according to a new report.
BusinessDecember 30, 2019
A worker havesting palm oil in South Sumatra, Indonesia

Indonesia files WTO lawsuit against EU

The world's largest palm oil producer has called the EU "discriminatory" over its plan to phase out biofuels.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 16, 2019
WTO headquarters in Geneva

EU to claim new powers after WTO deadlock

The EU cannot afford to be "defenseless", said the bloc's trade commissioner Phil Hogan.
BusinessDecember 12, 2019
Ashutosh Pandey

WTO crisis: Cut Trump some slack

Ashutosh Pandey
The US president should be blamed for many of the problems plaguing the global economy, but this one is not one of them.
BusinessDecember 11, 2019
World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva

WTO in trouble: What you need to know

The World Trade Organization's appeals body, which rules in trade disputes, can no longer do its job starting Wednesday.
BusinessDecember 11, 2019
WTO headquarters in Geneva

US shuts down WTO appeals court

The World Trade Organization is facing a major crisis as its appellate body loses ability to rule on new dispute cases.
BusinessDecember 10, 2019
DW Business Sendungslogo

DW Business - Europe

WTO division threatens survival of top court - Deutsche Bank downsizing continues
BusinessDecember 10, 201912:15 min
DW Business Sendungslogo

DW Business - Europe & Asia

WTO division threatens survival of top court - Dead car batteries get new life
BusinessDecember 10, 201912:22 min
Airbus Logo

WTO rules against EU in Airbus case

The US has said it may increase tariffs after the EU lost its case at the WTO.
PoliticsDecember 3, 2019
Wine and cheese

US imposes record tariffs on European goods

Cheese, wine and other goods will be subject to a 25% tariff in the US after the WTO approved record countermeasures.
PoliticsOctober 18, 2019
A fish market in Guinea

WTO still scrambling for global fishing rules

The World Trade Organization is increasingly under pressure to come up with a global scheme to curb fisheries subsidies.
BusinessOctober 8, 2019
Felix Steiner

EU stance on tariffs needs another look

Felix Steiner
"Donald Trump" and "tariff war" are terms that, for many people, go together. But does the EU really behave any better?
PoliticsOctober 5, 2019
EU mulling over right response to US tariffs

EU mulling over right response to US tariffs

The US plan to order punitive tariffs on imports from the EU escalates commercial tensions between the two economies.
BusinessOctober 4, 2019
Airbus

US to slap tariffs on EU following WTO Airbus ruling

Although legal, the move sets the stage for tit-for-tat trade escalation between the US and EU.
PoliticsOctober 2, 2019
German Chancellor Merkel siuts with international finance ministers at a WTO meeting in Berlin on Tuesday

Merkel points to Brexit role in forecast economic slowdown

Brexit is adding to economic uncertainty worldwide, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
PoliticsOctober 2, 2019
Signs with the US flag and Chinese flag at the Qingdao free trade port in China

WTO lowers trade growth forecast

The "darkening outlook" comes just months after the WTO predicted a more optimistic outcome.
BusinessOctober 1, 2019
WTO

S. Korea to file WTO complaint against Japan

Seoul has accused Tokyo of unlawfully choking off key materials used in making high-tech smartphones and TVs.
BusinessSeptember 11, 2019
Duisburg, Germany. ThyssenKrupp steel plant

EU claims new steel tariffs 'working well'

The European Union has expressed its satisfaction with the 25% tariffs on steel products initially introduced last year.
BusinessAugust 14, 2019
Paris Air Show 2011 | Boeing & Airbus

EU prepares tariffs on €20 billion of US goods

A list of retaliatory EU tariffs on US imports will reportedly be published next Wednesday.
PoliticsApril 13, 2019
Roderick Abbott - Arbeitete 30 Jahre bei der EU Handelskomission

Negotiating trade for both the UK and the EU

Roderick Abbott knows more than most when it comes to the complicated business of negotiating trade deals.
BusinessApril 10, 2019
external

DW Business – Europe & America

WTO Ruling, Roaring Inflation
BusinessApril 5, 201911:23 min
Farm scene in Moynalty, Co Meath, Ireland

Brexit worries adding to Irish beef woes

Ireland is the sixth-largest exporter of beef in the world, but Brexit is a major threat to the sector.
BusinessApril 5, 2019
external

No winners as trade spats weigh on global growth

Global trade spats have led to "synchronized deceleration" in global trade, with expected growth to fall by 1.1 percent.
BusinessApril 3, 201903:56 min
Boeing 737 Max 8 before landing

WTO rules against US over Boeing subsidies

The US failed to end Boeing subsidies even after the WTO ruled such measures illegal, according to the trade body.
BusinessMarch 28, 2019
Spanish olive with US flag

EU to fight US tariffs on Spanish olives at WTO

The European Comission will back Spain's fight to defend its olive exporters, who were hit by US tariffs in June 2018.
PoliticsJanuary 28, 2019
external

WTO dampens uncertainty over US-China trade conflict

The US-China trade spat is disrupting global value chains, says former Indonesian Trade Minister Maria Elka Pangestu.
BusinessJanuary 24, 201904:20 min
Bernard Jenkin

Pro-Brexit MP: 'Democracy has been served'

British MPs have roundly rejected May's Brexit deal - what now? Pro-Brexit Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin is our guest.
PoliticsJanuary 23, 2019
Chinese and German flags

Germany, China promise closer trade ties

Beijing and Berlin have signed agreements to boost cooperation in the banking and insurance sectors.
BusinessJanuary 18, 2019
Donald Trump und Xi Jinping

US, China declare truce on new tariffs

President Trump and Chinese leader Xi agreed to a 90-day stop to new tariffs in a step to slow an ongoing trade war.
BusinessDecember 2, 2018
Quadriga 15.11.2018

Fair Trade: How Unjust is the Global Economy?

Eight billionaires own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity.
PoliticsNovember 15, 201826:01 min
external

DW Business – Europe & Africa

Mixed emotions on global financial markets - An online German retailer grows fast, selling second-hand clothes
BusinessOctober 12, 201811:19 min
04.2015 DW Business Sendungslogo

DW Business – Europe

More positive US jobs figures expected - US, China left out of WTO reform talks
BusinessOctober 5, 201805:19 min
WTO headquarters in Geneva

Trump considers pulling the US out of WTO

As the number of countries launching WTO proceedings against the US increases, Trump mulls leaving the organization.
BusinessAugust 30, 2018
Erdogan on a platform

Turkey files US tariff complaint to WTO

In a move earlier flagged by officials in Ankara, Turkey lodges a complaint at the WTO over the doubling of US tariffs.
BusinessAugust 20, 2018
Schweiz | WTO-Generaldirektor Roberto Azevedo

WTO warns Trump trade war risks 'millions of jobs'

The WTO chief warned that the trade dispute with was risking loss of investment, jobs, and economic chaos in the US.
BusinessJuly 25, 2018
Two containers with the national colors of China and the EU

Give and take between China and the EU

In light of the ongoing trade dispute with the US, China is making more concessions to the EU.
PoliticsJuly 20, 2018
Symbolbild Handelskrieg USA und EU

US firms battle to escape counter tariffs

Among those most wary of the consequences of Trump's various trade battles are American companies.
BusinessJuly 20, 2018
Anti-Trump protest in Edinburgh

Is global free trade dead?

Since it helped shape the post-war trade regime, the US has been a driver of free trade. That era is ending.
BusinessJuly 18, 2018
DW Sendung Made in Germany WTO

US challenges counter-tariffs at WTO level

Global trade tensions have been brewing for months and US has now challenged some of the tariffs at WTO level
BusinessJuly 16, 2018
external

Trade war slows Chinese cash flow to the US

Chinese companies invested increasing amounts of cash in the United States for years - until Trump launched a trade war.
BusinessJuly 12, 201801:48 min
external

China defends trade practices at WTO trade policy review

The latest battle in the trade war between the world's top two economies, the USA and China, played out on Wednesday at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. The United States is demanding a "reckoning" over China's membership in the body.
BusinessJuly 12, 201802:00 min
external

WTO at a deadlock?

There's little the WTO can do to counteract President Trump's import tariffs, and their effects.
BusinessJuly 6, 201801:59 min
Container ship in the loading process at the Port of Quingdao, China

China warns of 'biggest trade war in history'

Chinese officials condemned US punitive tariffs, threatening that it could launch "the biggest trade war in history."
PoliticsJuly 6, 2018
Hamburg container port

WTO slams rise in trade restrictions

The World Trade Organization has pointed to a stark increase in trade restrictions initiated by G20 nations.
BusinessJuly 4, 2018
Chinese solar industry workers

China eager to defuse trade pressures

It insisted that the nation's rapid growth had brought lucrative opportunities to partners all over the world.
BusinessJune 28, 2018
US products

EU countertariffs on US products as of Friday

A raft of retaliatory tariffs from the European Union on US products will come into effect on June 22.
BusinessJune 20, 2018