WTO: EU, Germany push for new world trade body

Brussels and Berlin have launched a new initiative aimed at bypassing the long-standing paralysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO). But how viable is such a solution?

A proposal, introduced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has sparked considerable attention.

Speaking at the end of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on June 27, they floated the idea of the EU taking the lead in forming an alternative to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the world trade body that has been in place since 1995.

Merz said the idea was in its early stages but could include mechanisms to resolve disputes, as the WTO was meant to do.

"You all know that the WTO doesn't work anymore," he said, adding that a "new kind of trade organization" could gradually replace "what we no longer have with the WTO."