All news

Washington seeks to stonewall WTO’s work, Lavrov says

The policy of diktat, threats and zero-sum games should be abandoned, the acting foreign minister noted, emphasizing that there must be no trade wars or armed conflicts

TASHKENT, January 16. /TASS/. The US is trying to impose its stance and is hindering the work of the World Trade Organization, preventing normal operations of its dispute settlement body, Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said delivering a speech in MGIMO’s Tashkent branch on Thursday.

"The attempts continue to exploit the methods of unfair competition in the economic field," Lavrov commented. "Washington is trying to impose its approaches and is stonewalling the activity of the WTO where the dispute settlement body cannot operate normally," Russia’s top diplomat noted.

"Meanwhile, our US colleagues on a bilateral basis are trying to impose their solutions to global issues and don’t hesitate to actively employ protectionism and unilateral illegitimate economic sanctions while flagrantly abusing the dollar’s status," Lavrov said.

The future lies in the methods of building cooperation while the policy of diktat, threats and zero-sum games should be abandoned, Lavrov noted, emphasizing that there must be no trade wars or armed conflicts.

"This is the only way to move towards searching for truly sustainable solutions to global problems rather than immediate ones, which are aimed at addressing some domestic political events and electoral cycles," he pointed out.