US Relegates WTO to ‘Limited Role’ on Trade Rules: Supply Lines

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer sounded both vindicated in his long-standing doubts about the World Trade Organization and displeased that some of his counterparts from around the world were no-shows at the 14th ministerial gathering known as MC14.

Those were among the messages in a USTR statement issued late Monday, less than 12 hours after the Geneva-based WTO announced that the clock expired after four days of talks yielding no major breakthroughs. Not even a 28-year-old pact Greer called “the lowest of low-hanging fruit” — extending a ban on e-commerce tariffs — could be renewed.

Named in 1998 at the ...