WTO fails to agree rules to stop overfishing by year's end deadline

World Trade Organization negotiators failed to reach a deal to cut subsidies that lead to overfishing by a year-end deadline, the chairman of the talks told delegates at a closed-door meeting on Monday, citing delays linked to COVID-19. Santiago Wills said the it was impossible to reach the U.N. target due to time lost due to the coronavirus pandemic, adding that a deal was closer than ever.

World leaders committed in 2015 to a series of U.N. targets and one of them mandates the Geneva-based trade watchdog to strike a deal on ending government subsidies worth billions of dollars that contribute to over-fishing by 2020.