WTO Punts Fisheries Deadline to 2020 Ministerial Conference

World Trade Organization negotiators said Nov. 15 they won’t be able to meet a year-end deadline to forge an agreement to end harmful government fishing subsidies and they plan to extend the talks into 2020.

• While not unexpected, the move compounds the challenges facing the WTO, which remains ensnared in deep disagreement over what role the Geneva-base trade body should play in governing the world’s oceans.
• The aim of the negotiation is to fulfill a target of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which call on governments to eliminate fishery subsidies that contribute to over-fishing as well as overcapacity by next ...