PSIR Simplified

theThe Ministerial Conference (MC) is the apex decision-making body of the WTO. Its meetings are held after every two years. The trade and commerce Ministers of member countries take part in this meeting. The decisions are taken by consensus. The 14^th MC of WTO was held on 26-29 March, 2026 at Yaoundé, the capital of West African country Cameroon. These negotiations are held under the Doha Round of Trade negotiations launched in 2001 at Doha in Qatar. Doha round is also known as ‘development round’ as its chief mandate is to use trade promotion s  tool of development of developing countries. But this mandate has been relegated in the background over successive ministerial conferences. Yaoundé meeting gave a fresh hope for the revival of the WTO, who has been facing existential threat for some due to growing trade protectionism by countries, lack of consensus among developed and developing countries, unilateral tariff decisions by leading countries like the US (under Trump administration, dysfunctional Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM), and the wide practice of countries going for FTAs to promote their trade interests.  However, the Yaounde conference did not produce the desired outcome due to differences between developed countries led by the US and the developing countries led by India, though consensus was reached on certain points.

Yaounde Ministerial Conference

The 14^th MC of WTO was held on 26-29 March, 2026 at Yaounde, Cameroon. The conference was extended for a day for holding some discussions. The agenda of the conference included extension of Moratorium on E-commerce taxation, exemption of subsidy on agriculture for food security procurement of food grains, revival of Dispute Settlement mechanism, incorporation of certain plurilateral agreements and transparency enforcement. Since there was no consensus on various issues between the developed countries and the developing countries, no final document was released after the conference.

The major outcome of the 14^th Ministerial Conference are given below:

1. Moratorium on E-Conference- The moratorium on e-commerce was in place since 1998. The developed countries were opposed to imposition of custom duties one commerce transactions. The moratorium on custom duty on e-commerce has been extended for every two years since 1998 by successive MCs. During Yaounde MC, India and other developing countries did not agree for the further extension of this moratorium. Hence moratorium came to end in the summit, making countries free to impose taxes on e-commerce transactions in their own territory.  But the US and EU are not happy with this ending, because the e-commerce is dominated by the companies of the developed countries. However, on e-commerce, 66 Members, including the EU and covering 70 percent of global e-commerce trade, agreed to implement the first set of global rules on digital trade among and for themselves.
2. Incorporation of plurilateral agreement- China and other countries pushed for incorporation of 120 member signed plurilateral agreement- Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), but due to opposition by India it could not be incorporated into formal framework of WTO. The IFD liberalizes the investment for the purpose of development. India opposed this on the ground that this agreement is not related to trade, hence it is outside the mandate of WTO.
3. Subsidy on Agriculture for food security-  No consensus was reached on exemption of subsidy cap on public stockholding of food grain for food security.  Thus,  only protection for the developing countries from this subsidy rule is the ‘Peace Clause, which offers temporary exemption for some time. India and other African countries demanded a permanent solution to prevent its Public Distribution System (PDS) from being challenged by the 10 percent subsidy cap, which is based on 1986-88 prices.
4. Subsidy on Fisheries- In order to prevent overfishing, the Geneva MC in 2022 agreed for banning the subsidy on illegal fishing. Now the issue was to reduce subsidy on open sea fishing by member countries. In this case member agreed to continue negotiations to reduce subsidy on open sea fishing in future.
5. Moratorium on TRIPS Related Non-Violation Complaint Mechanism– In order to address the Covid-19 pandemic, the developing countries were given moratorium  against the complaints for violation of TRIPS. But this time, this moratorium lapsed as members did not agree to further extend this facility for health issues. This lapse of Moratorium allows the developed nations to challenge public health measures of developing countries on the ground of violation of TRIPS regime.
6. Dispute Settlement and WTO Reforms- The WTO reforms agenda was agreed  during Geneva MC in 2022, but no progress has been achieved so far.  This time also the issue of WTO reforms and revival of dispute settlement mechanism was referred back to General Council of the WTO. However,  61 countries of the WTO have devised an alternative dispute settlement mechanism known as the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), which will work till the reform of the WTO dispute settlement system is pending for revival. India  supported a development-centric, non-discriminatory, and consensus-based reform process in the WTO.

WTO: Some Important Facts           WTO came into being on 01 January 1995 in place of GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) to address the need for liberal trade regime in the wake of globalization. It has 166 members, the last two members- Comoros and Timor-Leste were admitted in 2024 during the 13th MC, held in Abu Dhabi. The WTO is mandated to develop a rule based liberal trade regime for the promotion of trade and economic development. It provides a forum for the members to discuss and arrive at new agreements  for facilitating the global trade. Legal Regime of WTO The agreements and principle of the WTO are contained in Four Annexes of attached with the Marrakesh Agreement, 1994, by which WTO was established. Annex 1– It has three parts: Annex 1A deals with trade in in goods; Annex 1B deals with trade in services; and Annex 1C deals with Trade related Intellectual Property Rights or TRIMS Annex 2- It is related with dispute settlement mechanism of WTO Annex3- It is concerned with Trade policy review of member countries to ensure that the trade policies of the member countries are in tune with WTO norms. Annex 4- It is concerned with incorporation of Plurilateral agreements signed by the member countries. Plurilateral agreements are singed by not all but some of the countries and such agreements are applicable  only to those countries. Core principles of the WTO The WTO is based on the two core principles: Most Favoured Nation Clause– which prescribes that if a member state grants some trade concession to another countries, it will be available to all member countries of the WTO. This principle was also applied by GATT.National Treatment- this principle prescribes that the importing country would give same treatment to imported goods and services as it gives to its own goods and services. That means member countries cannot discriminate against the imported goods from other countries. Exceptions to Core principles- The member countries enjoy some exceptions to core principle in special, circumstances: Anti-dumping Duties– if a country imported below goods at a price which is  below to the price in exporting countryCountervailing Duty– A n importing country may impose countervailing duties on some goods if such goods have been given subsidy by the exporting countries.Safeguard Measures– WTO agreement also provides for safeguard measures by an importing country is the there is excessive import of good from other countries harming its own domestic industry.The member countries are permitted to sign Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with other countries, provided such agreements cover the entire trade of goods and services between those countries. Also, the member countries can  enter into a Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) with other countries to promote the trade of  a particular goods and service. The difference between FTA and PTA is that while FTA covers the entire range of trade between participants, the PTA cover trade only in particular commodity of goods.Under the WTO trade rules, the developing countries have been given preferential treatment in implementation of WTO norms in order to protect their trade interest. Even Doha round was launched in 2001 to promote the development of poor countries by giving trade concessions to such countries.

India and WTO

India has always been at the forefront of trade negotiations launched under the banner of WTO. India has always represented the interests and concerns of developing countries or Global South in these negotiations. India has opposed the dilution of ‘Development’ mandate of the ongoing Doha rounds of trade negotiations by the developed countries. During MC12 in 2022 at Geneva, it was on the proposal submitted by India and Brazil that waiver was granted on Intellectual property right for the production of Covid-19 vaccine for five years. However, members did not agree for extending such waiver to Covid -9 Diagnostic and Therapeutic tools. During 13^th Ministerial Conference at Abu Dhabi, India raised the issue of exempting the subsidy norms on agriculture with respect to public stockholding of food grains for food security,  subsidy to the poor fishermen who practice fishing as livelihood and ending moratorium  on custom duties on e-commerce transactions. However, India did not succeed on these points during 13^th conference du to lack of consensus on these points. The final decision on agricultural subsidy had been postponed during 13^th summit. 

But India scored partial success during the 14^th Ministerial conference in the following matters:

1. India insisted on ending the moratorium on e-commerce duty, which was ended  was ended. With this, countries including India would be free to imposed taxes on e-commerce transactions which is largely done by the e-commerce companies of developed countries.
2. This time also the issue of agricultural subsidy was also postponed, though India and African countries demanded end of exemption of agricultural subsidy in public procurement of food grain for food security.
3. India also opposed the formal inclusion of the China-sponsored plurilateral agreement known as Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) into the WTO legal framework.  India argued that this agreement risks eroding the functional limits and foundational multilateral principles of the WTO. Finally,  this agreement was not incorporated into the WTO framework. It should be noted that amidst lack of consensus, the member countries are permitted to sign plurilateral agreements, which are agreement applicable to only the signatory member states (not all the member states) But their formal inclusion in the WTO framework requires the consensus of all countries.
4. India, representing the cause of developing countries also opposed the push by the US and EU countries to frame stricter rules for transparency. The Transparency in WTO means, regular information by the member states about their trade policies and other change in their trade regime. India argued that the developing countries lack institutional capacity to fulfil the stricter rules of transparency. India also argued that transparency should  not be weaponized to impose penalties or other retaliatory measures (as proposed by the developed countries) against the countries which fail to fulfil the conditions of transparency.

In brief India has always been at the forefront of WTO negotiations, representing the cause of developing countries.

Conclusion

The WTO was designed as a mechanism for evolving and expanding rule based international trade order, so that trade is liberalized and predictable. The global trade as been viewed as potential tool for global economic development.  However, due to lack of consensus among developed countries and developing countries, the WTO has not been able to promote the global trade to the extent it was expected to do. Yet WTO trade norms continue to be the guiding principles of global trade among member states. The increasing tendency among member states towards trade protectionism, weaponization of trade and tariff, unilateralism and resort to Free Tarde Agreements have undermined the position and powers of the WTO. In 2025, the Trump Administration has imposed unilateral and punitive tariff against many countries, thus undermining the principle of free trade as envisaged under the WTO trade regime. Even, when the US Supreme Court outlawed such punitive and unilateral tariffs, Trump administration is mulling to reimpose such tariffs by another means- investing the trade practices of other countries under the section 301 of the US Trade Act, 1974. Such investigation will allow the US administration to reimpose unilateral tariffs on other countries. The US has successfully blocked the revival of Dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO and continues to  do so even now. In view of the ineffective WTO, the member countries are resorting to FTAs for their trade promotion, which further weakens the WTO mandate and jurisdiction.

In 2022 Geneva Conference, members have agreed for its revival and reforms, which is underway now. The Dispute Settlement Mechanism is still non-functional due to opposition by the US in the appointment of judges for dispute settlement body. As far as 14^th Ministerial is concerned, the only success is the ending of Moratorium on taxes on e-commerce, which is dominated by the developed countries. Now developing countries like India will have power to impose custom duties on the e-commerce transactions in  the Indian markets. The progress on exemption on subsidy on agriculture for food security and fisheries subsidy is still awaited. In spite of these deadlocks, India and other countries should try to strengthen the WTO mechanism by pushing reforms process of WTO as it still provides an anchor for the rule-based and predictable global trade regime.