WTO deputy upbeat on negotiations, anxious about Appellate Body, NME, national security cases

World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff on Friday offered reasons for optimism about negotiations at the WTO but warned of a host of challenges including the continued Appellate Body vacancy impasse, a dispute over China’s non-market economy status and disputes that will test the WTO's national security exception. “When I was offered the job, after I turned it down a couple times, by Roberto Azevêdo, I said, 'Well, there are three improvised explosive devices in the roadway of the...