TRADE REFORMS | IFD agreement is supported by 90 of 126 participating members

Agencies paris

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, said, "We need India as a leader "in the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14), which will take place in Yaounde, Cameroon, from March 26 to 29, 2026.

"For MC-14, you know, we need India as a leader. India is a leading country, and India is doing well. So India needs to open the way for other developing countries," the WTO DG told reporters in Paris. Highlighting India's leadership role, she said WTO reform must include support for issues important to India, such as agriculture. She also pushed for India's backing on the Investment Facilitation for Development agreement, which is supported by 90 of the 126 participating members.

The Director General of the Geneva-based body said she discussed several issues like WTO reforms and agriculture with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The Indian minister is here on an official visit.  The WTO deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.

India seeks WTO consultations with US over safeguard measures on auto components India on Tuesday sought consultations with the US under the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) safeguard agreement over American tariffs on auto components. This move comes shortly after India reserved the right to impose retaliatory duties on select US products in response to American tariffs on steel and aluminium.

On March 26, 2025, the US adopted a measure in the form of a tariff increase of 25 per cent ad valorem on imports of passenger vehicles and light trucks, and on certain automobile parts originating in or from India, a communication sent by India to WTO said. The measure on automobile parts applies from May 3, 2025 and for an unlimited duration.

"India considers that the measure, in its design and effect, constitutes a safeguard measure within the meaning of.... GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariff) 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards, as it is intended to protect the US domestic industry from increased imports," it said.