WTO chief says ready to talk with U.S. trade officials

Roberto Azevedo, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), said Thursday that he is ready to talk with trade officials of the United States on the latter's concerns.

"It is clear that the United States has a variety of trade concerns, including about the WTO dispute settlement system. I am ready to sit down and discuss these concerns and any others with the trade team in the U.S. whenever they are ready to do so," said Azevedo in an official statement.

It's not the first time that Azevedo suggested a conversation with U.S. trade officials under Donald Trump's administration.

Last November, Azevedo told journalists in Geneva that he had not spoken to Trump yet, but he and his organization were ready to talk to U.S. officials for deepening relations between the U.S. and WTO members.

During his presidential campaign, Trump called the WTO a "disaster" and warned that his country could quit the Geneva-based body.

On Wednesday, in an annual trade policy agenda document, the U.S. trade representative's office said that the administration might defy WTO rulings that it views as interfering with U.S. sovereignty. Endi