The United States said on Thursday it was pushing hard for the World Trade Organization to reach agreement on cutting fishing subsidies in coming months and viewed those talks as a test of whether the global body can still achieve multilateral deals. Deputy US Trade Representative Dennis Shea, the US envoy to the Geneva-based WTO, said a successful outcome would have “enormous importance” for the body but that there were still significant challenges ahead. “In a way, it won’t be the WTO that saves the fish, it’ll be the fish that save the WTO,” Shea told an event hosted by the Asia Society think tank in Washington. Despite the challenges, Shea said he hoped a fishing subsidies deal could be struck in time for a WTO meeting in Kazakhstan in June.

US official says successful fishery talks crucial for WTO. (2020, February 10). BusinessWorld, p. S2/6.