South Korea Calls for Restraint on Trade Barriers at WTO General Council Meeting

South Korea called on the international community to jointly respond to the recent spread of trade restrictive measures by major economies. The call was made at a high-level meeting of World Trade Organization member nations, the trade ministry said Thursday.

Kwon Hye-jin, director general for trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, attended the WTO's General Council meeting as South Korea's chief representative.

The meeting was held for two days beginning Wednesday in Geneva and began on May 6, 2026. In the meeting Kwon Hye-jin urged WTO member countries to refrain from imposing trade protectionist measures such as tariff hikes and import restrictions. She said that trade protectionist measures can create a vicious cycle of retaliatory trade measures among countries.

Kwon Hye-jin claimed that global trade issues such as the oversupply of steel and other goods should be addressed by finding fundamental solutions. Yonhap reported that she also held bilateral meetings with representatives from Britain, Japan, Turkey and other nations to discuss the steel safeguard measures recently adopted by the European Union and Britain as well as other pending trade issues.

"Amid the spread of global trade protectionism, we actively raised the issue of tariff-rate quotas affecting South Korea's steel industry through both multilateral and bilateral channels," Kwon said in a press release.

She vowed Seoul's continued role in the international community's efforts to restore the WTO-based multilateral trading system. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources is headquartered in the central city of Sejong.