A U.S. 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 #PlanB in case of a prolonged funding pause, without elaborating.
The WTO has already been hobbled by a U.S. 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% of that based on a fees system that is proportionate to its share of global trade, according to public WTO documents.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-suspends-financial-contributions-wto-trade-sources-say-2025-03-27/