‘Rebuilding trust, boosting trade and transforming our multilateral institutions’ – speech by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, at WTO Presidential Lecture

Today the world is on a knife edge – war and conflict are piercing the heart of our multilateral system and our global confidence. Russia’s war against Ukraine, the war in Gaza and the crisis in the Middle East, without forgetting the terrible civil war in Sudan. These conflicts, and others, are creating a devastating cocktail of humanitarian catastrophes, destabilisation and insecurity, driving the world away from the rule of law toward the law of force. They have put our rules-based order on life support.

On top of this, every week we see the devastating effects of climate change worldwide, from Typhoon Yagi in Southeast Asia and raging wildfires in Canada to the terrible flash floods in Spain this week.

We are also living through the mind-blowing revolution of artificial intelligence, with its vast potential for innovation and productivity, but also its risks for human rights, democracy and for our global trading system. One thing is absolutely certain – no single country, not even the most powerful, can face all these challenges alone. We need cooperation and multilateralism more than ever.

To make multilateralism work, we need the three Ts: Trust, Trade, and Transformation. We need to build more trust. People must be able to believe in each other when they make agreements and work together, and building trust requires respect for international law, crucial when nations cooperate. We need trade because it generates prosperity and helps us achieve our common goals. We must also transform global multilateral institutions, so they are strong and fit for the 21st century.

The three Ts are precisely what we try to use in the European Union. The EU is founded on trust between member states and grounded in our shared laws, values and accountability. This trust allows us to cooperate and reach compromise on difficult issues that were once taboo. Trade has been a central pillar of our European Union since the days of the European Coal and Steel Community and creating our single market and customs union got rid of trade barriers and got goods, services, people and capital flowing freely across borders. We have transformed Europe from a continent divided by war to a continent working together across countless sectors.

We are building our European sovereignty brick by brick, reducing our overdependence and building mutually beneficial partnerships with the rest of the world. We want to build bridges, not barriers and that requires more trust, more dialogue, more mutual understanding between nations and people, and less of the polarisation that drives nations apart.

I strongly believe in a multipolar world where each country, or group of countries, can set its own path, with respect for the common rules. It should not be about choosing one side over another. We need to listen, cooperate, and forge common decisions based on smart compromise. We have to develop our collective intelligence to solve collective problems.

Just one recent example: the EU, together with other regional blocs, played a crucial role in successfully negotiating the Pact for the Future in New York. It was not about ideology, nor about North versus South nor East versus West. It was about common sense, and the four corners of the globe coming together for an agreement that is good for everyone. I hope this sets a good example for reforming our international financial system — the Bretton Woods institutions.

We need to make international financing fairer and more inclusive. The financial firepower of multilateral developments banks — like the World Bank — must be scaled up. You can count on the European Union to be a leader for change. We must also help countries to invest, by addressing the challenge of de-risking, one of the main priorities we need to work on in the future.

The world needs trust, and the world needs trade. That is why we are so fortunate to have a natural trust-builder like President Ngozi at the helm of the WTO. I would like to commend you on your tireless efforts. I remember your critical work during the COVID-19 pandemic, on vaccines and intellectual property, to name just a few.

Today a dark cloud of distrust hangs over international cooperation. So I also want to pay tribute to your relentless determination to bring trust back to the heart of the WTO. As President of the European Council, I know how hard it is to make decisions with “only” 27 member states. So I do not underestimate your challenge in making decisions with over 160 WTO members.

We must pursue the necessary reforms to make the WTO a powerful force for the 21st century. Dear Ngozi, you are doing precisely that. These reforms are about rebuilding trust because trade is about trust. When people trade, they trust each other. And when they trust each other, they build new projects together for the future. That is why the EU supports strengthening the WTO. This is a strategic choice of the EU. A strong, well-functioning WTO is essential to fair and predictable global trade, based on common rules.

Trade is the engine of multilateralism. Trust is the petrol powering the engine. And transformation is the movement to our destination — an effective and modernised multilateralism. We must therefore transform and reform our multilateral institutions, starting with the WTO. Reforming the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism — including an effective appeals process — is a top priority. The EU and most G20 members support ambitious reform, while keeping the core principles agreed in 1995, including the right of appeal to an impartial decision-making body. The clock is ticking. Let’s get it done.

We must address unfair subsidies and state support and make the process more inclusive — both developed and developing countries should have their say. We also need to modernise the system, so it fosters cooperation over confrontation, interdependence over isolation, and rules over raw power.

The EU supports plurilateral negotiations within the WTO because we think this is an effective complement to multilateral negotiations. Plurilateral negotiations foster innovation and allow countries to move forward on specific issues — like digital trade or environmental goods. They also build trust and create momentum for future cooperation. A good example is the Investment Facilitation for Development, agreed by 128 countries.

Our rules-based order is much more than a technical framework. It is our collective and human-centred vision for peace, stability, and shared prosperity. As the world is increasingly divided into blocs, the multilateral trading system is a powerful anchor of stability and a motor for prosperity.

Our multilateral trade system must be fair for big and small countries alike. Every country must have a fair shot at growing and thriving in the global economy. A level playing field is crucial to ensuring that common rules and standards apply to everyone. Our trade relationships should be anchored in a spirit of cooperation and shared goals. Imposing values or principles without dialogue does not work and will never work. This is a recipe for distrust and resistance. The EU’s deforestation law is an interesting example. We have good intentions, but we have listened to our partners and decided to postpone the phasing-in time of this legislation.

After 10 years as a member of the European Council, I have learned at least three key lessons for the future. First, when regions cooperate more, the world cooperates more and this strengthens the UN and our multilateral system. In the EU, we have tried to strengthen our ties with all major regional organisations in recent years, like the African Union, ASEAN, CELAC and with the Gulf countries.

Second, we must be true to our beliefs, always and everywhere. Double standards are a poison in the bloodstream of international cooperation. The law is the law, and we must defend it wherever it is threatened. These laws must be decided by everyone, so they are legitimate, and implemented by everyone, so they are universal. No cherry-picking. The European Council fully supports UN Secretary General Guterres and the work of the United Nations. He is the guardian of our rules-based multilateral system and labelling him as persona non grata is totally unacceptable.

Finally, the third lesson is the importance of trust. With more trust, we can prevent tensions and conflict. With more trust, we can solve problems, and build future projects together. Rebuilding trust, boosting trade, and transforming our multilateral institutions – these are the three T’s for making the world more peaceful and more prosperous.

You can count on the European Union.