British business has said the failure to reach an agreement at the latest meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a “grim outcome” for global trade.

William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce was speaking after the conclusion of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Cameroon, which after four days of talks, ended without a definitive agreement on key issues.

“Global trading businesses, including here in the UK, have been dealt another hammer blow by the failure of WTO talks in Yaounde,” he said. “The failure of the Ministerial Conference to reach outcomes on reform and the moratorium is a grim outcome for the global economy and investors. Nevertheless, a pathway forward still exists for the draft plans to be further refined and considered at the next meeting of the WTO General Council.

“Without urgent diplomacy at the highest level, the customs duties moratorium on electronic transmission of goods and services will end in 48 hours. That will create fresh uncertainty for thousands of UK exporters, from creative industries to legal services.”

Bain continued: “The stark reality is, that around three quarters of the UK’s £545 billion in annual services exports sales could eventually be hit with extra duties if no agreement is reached by Tuesday evening.

“Minds must be focused, in the coming days, to get the WTO reform agenda back on track, and protect more UK businesses from damaging extra costs.

“At a time when the Iran conflict and US tariffs are causing spikes in inflationary pressures and lowering global growth forecasts for 2026, a solution to the moratorium issue for services trade conducted electronically must be found.

“The clock is ticking fast towards midnight on keeping the world’s services trade free of new charges, duties and taxes.”

The WTO said the meeting was not a failure with ministers adopting a number of decisions as well as making a commitment to continue work in Geneva on key outstanding issues.

Cameroon’s Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the Chair of MC14, said ministers worked to conclude as many issues as possible across the various areas of negotiation during the four-day meeting. He thanked the ministers facilitating the discussions as well as all the ministers and delegations in attendance for their “tireless work.”

“You have shown constructive participation through very long days and short nights,” he said. “You have shown your determination to make MC14 a landmark conference.”

Nevertheless, he admitted, “we ran out of time” with regards to several outstanding issues such as the WTO’s work programme on electronic commerce and the continuation of the existing moratoriums on customs duties for electronic transmissions and non-violation complaints under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The organisation’s Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (above Pic) welcomed progress in the discussions on a work programme for advancing ongoing talks on WTO reform, the decision on advancing work on further disciplines on harmful fisheries subsidies, and other issues.

“A lot was accomplished,” she declared. “We decided to work differently. I think we have a new WTO way of working . to modernise the way we do business, so we can be more nimble, more responsive as we move forward.”

She suggested members use the draft texts developed over the four days of ministerial discussions to finalize agreements on outstanding issues in Geneva at the next General Council meeting.

“It has been a constructive four days – and nights,” added Okonjo-Iweala. “I thank you all for your solutions-oriented engagement. We accomplished a lot. We have a come a long way. All we need is time. And we can give ourselves that between now and the next General Council.”