On 15 July, 2025, the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG) organized a Webinar on U.S. trade policy and the WTO. Mercedes Araoz, FMG Board Member , Professor of International Economics and Public Policy at Universidad del Pacifico moderated the meeting.
At the meeting, Petros C. Mavroidis, FMG member, former member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) legal affairs division and Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, NYC; Wendy Cutler, FMG member and Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute; Tim Groser, FMG member and former Trade Minister of New Zealand and former Ambassador of New Zealand to the WTO shared their views on the current international situation and geopolitical dynamics—particularly with the impending deadline for reciprocal tariffs on 9 July and the US 180-day review of international organizations in August, the future U.S. trade policies, and their impact on the WTO, and answered relevant questions from participants.
Over 80 participants joined the session, including members of FMG, Ambassadors/DPRs of WTO members, representatives from related international organizations, and experts from renowned think tanks and universities etc.
Watch this session via YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9k9VS5ZtmQ
Anenx 1: Programme
15:00-15:02 Opening Remarks
Speaker: Xiankun Lu (FMG)
15:02-15:05 Introduction
Speaker: Mercedes Araoz (FMG)
15:05-16:05 Presentations
Moderator: Mercedes Araoz (FMG)
Speaker: Wendy Cutler (FMG)
Speaker: Petros C. Mavroidis (FMG)
Discussant: Tim Groser (FMG)
16:05-16:30 Discussion
Moderator: Mercedes Araoz (FMG)
Annex 2: List of participants
FMG/FFMG
Xiankun Lu (FMG)
Mercedes Araoz (FMG)
Wendy Cutler (FMG)
Tim Groser (FMG)
Petros C. Mavroidis (FMG)
Rajesh Aggarwal (FMG)
Willy Alfaro (FMG)
Hilda Al-Hinai (FMG)
Ignacio Garcia Bercero (FMG)
Clemens Boonekamp (FMG)
Deborah Elms (FMG)
Simon Evenett (FMG)
Jonathan Fried (FMG)
Ahmed Gamaleldin (FMG)
Henry Gao (FMG)
Jennifer Hillman (FMG)
Bernard Hoekman (FMG)
Alejandro Jara (FMG)
Masamichi Kono (FMG)
Patrick Low (FMG)
Brad McDonald (FMG)
Mario Matus (FMG)
Hamid Mamdouh (FMG)
Cecilia Malmstrom (FMG)
Janet Njambi (FMG)
Victor do Prado (FMG)
Rosine Plank (FMG)
Cristián Rodriguez-Chiffelle (FMG)
Sherry Stephenson (FMG)
Xinquan Tu (FMG)
Peter Ungphakorn (FMG)
John Weekes (FMG)
Luz Maria de la Mora (FFMG)
WTO Missions
Barbados: Matthew Wilson, Ambassador
Djibouti: Kadra Ahmed Hassan, Ambassador
HK of China: Winky So, Ambassador
New Zealand: Clare Kelly, Ambassador
Pakistan: Ali Sarfraz Hussain, Ambassador
China: Yihong Li, DPR
Germany: Ulrike Eitelhuber, DPR
Israel: Shir Slutzky, DPR
Liechtenstein: Patrick Ritter, DPR
Australia: Jessica Dickerson, Counsellor
China: Xiongjun Gong, Counsellor
China: Yuchi Ma, Counsellor
China: Kangrong Fu, Counsellor
Denmark: Fin Poulsen, Counsellor Trade
Denmark: Mads Lunde, Minister Counsellor Trade
EU: Giulio Menato, Counsellor
Estonia: Kätlin Joala, Counsellor
EU: Zampetti Americo, Counsellor
Turkey: Ipek Bozoglu, Counselor
Spain: Maria Pilar Morán, Counsellor
Chinese Taipei: Judith Kuo, Deputy Counsellor
Denmark: Anders Christiansen, Special attaché
EU: Hene Leht-Blight, trade officer
EU: MP Nicora, Trade Policy Officer
Iceland: Ólafur Björn Sverrisson, Attaché
Slovenia: Špela Kučan, trade attaché
Singapore: Peter Drage, Research Officer
Bangladesh: Rajibul Islam Khan, First Secretary Commercial
Ireland: William Horgan, First Secretary
Norway: William Jensen, First Secretary
Brazil: Lucas Magalhaes, Second Secretary
Japan: Jun Sunahara, Second Secretary
Lithuania: Juste Mileviciute-Sliziene, Second Secretary
WTO Divisions
Angela Ellard, Deputy Director-General, WTO
Edwini Kessie, Director, WTO
Rohini Acharya, Counsellor, WTO
Suja Rishikesh Mavroidis, Director, WTO
Diwakar Dixit, Counsellor, WTO
Rodd Izadnia, Counsellor, WTO
Maika Oshikawa, Director, WTO
Lauro Locks, Counsellor, WTO
Think Tanks
Douglas A. Irwin, PIIE
Jeffrey Schott, PIIE
International Organizations
Adam Jakubik, IMF
Don Rodney Junio, WEF
William Reinsch, CSIS
Jeannie Cameron, JCIC
Rolf Traeger, UNCTAD
Stefano Inama, UNCTAD
Natalie Deblue, WIPO
Universities
Merit Janow, Professor，Columbia University
Robert Wolfe, Professor, Queen’s University
Stefan Tangermann, Professor, University of Göttingen
Elisa Baroncini, Professor, Università di Bologna
Xifeng Gong, Professor, CAAS
Others
Damien Bruckard, Geopolitical Strategy, CEO
Werner Zdouc, former Director, Knowledge and Information Management, Academic Outreach and WTO Chairs Programme
Dale Honeck, former Senior Counselor, WTO
Xiaozhun Yi, former DDG of WTO
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