Clete Willems Quoted in South China Morning Post on Candidates for WTO Chief
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Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems has been quoted in the South China Morning Post article “WTO: US vetoes appointment of Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, China’s choice to lead the global trade body.”
The United States, the article reports, has told an informal gathering of world leaders that it will not support the candidacy for the top job at the World Trade Organization of Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has had a long career in development finance and politics, but no direct experience in trade issues. The other person vying for the position is South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee.
Yoo, whom the United States prefers, was at the helm last year as Seoul and Washington signed a renegotiated bilateral free trade agreement. She is also extremely well-regarded by the Trump administration and in Washington policy circles, the article notes.
“Yoo has a good reputation in the United States because of the way that she handled the U.S.-Korea negotiation – she was actually a counterpart of mine and some others at [the U.S. Trade Representative], and we all really liked working with her,” said Willems.
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