…the Nigerian government deserves praise for the tremendous diplomatic work it has been doing in reaching out to all WTO members, including the United States. Hopefully, all its excellent efforts will pay off with the overturning by consensus of the Trump administration’s opposition to the appointment of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
In 2000, United States President George W. Bush said of Africa that it had no place in America’s national strategic interests. All that seems to have changed since China came into the picture.
At that time, it seemed as though any strategic interest the United States might have in Africa were limited to access to cheap African oil imports. But since then, concern about China’s rising influence on the continent and containing revolutionary Islam have changed the picture and made Africa so much a part of America’s national strategic interests, such that the continent has become the New Frontier in attaining some of America’s worldwide goals.
One would have thought that the U.S. would be interested in countering China’s aggressive incursion into Africa, a relentless foray also motivated by the Chinese’s strategic interest in African oil and other resources that, in many ways, threatens U.S. hegemony on the continent. That’s why it is not very clear why the U.S. is throwing its considerable weight against the chances of Africa’s consensus candidate to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO). To many Africans, this is hardly an effective way to counter China’s influence in the continent amid the new ‘scramble for Africa’.
According to the U.S.’ own influential Council on Foreign Relations, China has not only become Africa’s largest trade partner, but it has also significantly expanded its economic ties with the continent. The Council also stated that opinion surveys show that most African countries have a complementary view of China.
As said by The New Diplomat, a leading current affairs magazine, the European Union (E.U.) nations, and the United States were on odd opposite sides of the WTO vote. These two previously (pre-Trump) powerful and inseparable geopolitical allies were in rare disagreement over the vote for the director general (DG) of the WTO. It was the strong support of China that finally tipped the scales in Africa’s favour. This action of China cannot but be a boost to its positive image on the continent.
Of course, the U.S. claims to have a powerful reason for not letting Africa shine at the WTO’s head, hinging its argument on meritocracy. Specifically, it considers the South Korean candidate, Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, to be a “bona fide trade expert.”
…WTO decisions require the unanimous consent of its 164 members without a stalemate. That’s why as Africans began to celebrate the news that its candidate had won the popular vote to make history as the first African and female to head the WTO, the U.S.’ last-minute opposition threw a painful spanner in the works.
No one doubts the qualifications of Minister Yoo for the job, but that she is more qualified for the job than Africa’s consensus candidate has been disproven by a substantial global vote of 104 (Africa) to 60 (Korea).
Still, WTO decisions require the unanimous consent of its 164 members without a stalemate. That’s why as Africans began to celebrate the news that its candidate had won the popular vote to make history as the first African and female to head the WTO, the U.S.’ last-minute opposition threw a painful spanner in the works. The past quickly came to mind, and a certain feeling of déjà vu.
Indeed, we’ve been here before: A top international position, an American president, a South Korean, and an African, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
In 2012, when this same daughter of Africa fought hard to be the World Bank group’s president, another U.S. president, Barack Obama, and his secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, made sure that she failed. Although that time, the opposition was not about meritocracy or any such excuse.
Consider that when President Obama chose Professor Kim over this same African candidate to head the World Bank Group, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala already had under her belt the second-highest position in the World Bank. She had served as the managing director of operations, and she was at the time, an accomplished finance minister…
Jim Yong Kim, another South Korean who got the Obama nod, was not even an economist or banker, let alone a world banker. He was then an accomplished physician and anthropologist, but the Americans championed his candidacy for the World Bank position. Another version of ‘Bona fide expertise’? Hardly.
Consider that when President Obama chose Professor Kim over this same African candidate to head the World Bank Group, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala already had under her belt the second-highest position in the World Bank. She had served as the managing director of operations, and she was at the time, an accomplished finance minister who had successfully persuaded powerful countries to give Nigeria $18 billion worth of debt relief.
Still, Kim, a Korean-American, may have won because he was American, and Iweala was not. Today, she is Nigerian-American, so what’s the problem?
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government deserves praise for the tremendous diplomatic work it has been doing in reaching out to all WTO members, including the United States. Hopefully, all its excellent efforts will pay off with the overturning by consensus of the Trump administration’s opposition to the appointment of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
Ebere Onwudiwe is a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Abuja. Please send your comments to this number on WhatsApp: +234 (0)701 625 8025; messages only, no calls.
