WTO plans 10% budget cut

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Reuters May 03, 2026 Less than a minute read

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GENEVA:

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is set to cut about 10% of its spending – including hiring freezes and reductions in short term staff – after the US fell back into arrears and a growing number of members failed to pay their dues on time, according to classified WTO documents seen by Reuters.

The watchdog for global trade rules since 1995 has already been tested by US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs that upended international trade as well as by more than six years of paralysis after Trump's first administration in 2019 began blocking appointments to the organisation's top appeals court.