Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies agreed Saturday that it is "urgent" to reform the World Trade Organization, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, amid an escalating U.S.-China tit-for-tat tariff trade war.
Motegi, serving as the chairman of the G20 foreign ministers gathering in Nagoya, also said at a news conference that ongoing negotiations on a sprawling Asia-Pacific free trade agreement should be concluded by all the original 16 member states, including India, which pulled out of the agreement earlier this month.
"As trust in the multilateral framework is now being undermined, the G20 has shared the view that the WTO should be reformed so that it can address several current issues," Motegi said after the end of the two-day meeting.