Skip to content
Adopted text

Multilateral negotiations in view of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé, 26 to 29 March 2026

TA-10-2026-0086 · P10_TA(2026)0086 · PE781.228

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament's resolution on the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference calls for a successful outcome and comprehensive modernisation of the WTO, including restoring the dispute settlement system and reforming decision-making. It urges progress on fisheries subsidies, agriculture, e-commerce, and investment facilitation, and stresses the need to strengthen the development dimension and parliamentary involvement.

Key points

  1. Calls on WTO members to commit to a successful MC14 and to move towards annual ministerial conferences.
  2. Supports the facilitator-led modernisation process and calls for a clear roadmap for reform at MC14.
  3. Insists on exploring more effective decision-making, including 'responsible consensus' and a management body.
  4. Encourages plurilateral agreements and a mechanism to prevent a single member from blocking them.
  5. Regrets US tariffs and calls on the US to engage constructively; reaffirms the MFN principle.
  6. Calls on India to align with EU positions on e-commerce, fish subsidies, and plurilaterals; regrets its opposition to expanding the WTO mandate.
  7. Calls on China to reflect its renunciation of special treatment retroactively and to address overcapacity and export controls.
  8. Calls for restoring a fully functioning dispute settlement system and welcomes the MPIA as a temporary measure.
  9. Insists on reforming subsidy rules based on transparency, strengthened disciplines, and effective remedies.
  10. Welcomes the entry into force of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement and stresses the need for further disciplines on overcapacity subsidies.
  11. Calls for strengthening the development dimension with more granular, evidence-based special and differential treatment.
  12. Calls for renewing the e-commerce moratorium and incorporating the Agreement on Electronic Commerce into the WTO framework.

Who is affected

  • WTO members, including the US, China, and India, are called on to engage constructively and align with EU positions.
  • Developing countries and least-developed countries are targeted for more tailored special and differential treatment.
  • Businesses, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, benefit from the e-commerce moratorium and digital trade rules.

Figures and deadlines

  • 72 % of global trade is conducted under MFN rules.
  • USD 22 billion per year in harmful fisheries subsidies are to be curbed.
  • 258 million people were in crisis or worse acute food insecurity in 2022.
  • 58 WTO members, covering close to 60 % of world trade, have joined the MPIA.
  • 128 members out of 166 support the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, including 91 developing economies.