Geneva, May 7, 2026 — The Cuban delegation today urged the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to place development at the core priority of the Organization’s reform process.
During the session, Counsellor José Ernesto Díaz Pérez denounced the impact of the recent additional unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States against Cuba, particularly the Executive Orders issued on January 29 and May 1 of this year, describing them as new acts of aggression against the Cuban people.
The diplomat stressed that the use of tariff coercion and unilateral measures for political purposes not only targets Cuba, but also constitutes a flagrant violation of International Law and of the rules governing the multilateral trading system.
The Cuban delegation underscored that WTO reform cannot become a mechanism for perpetuating inequalities. Cuba defended the preservation of consensus as the cornerstone of decision-making and called for the full restoration of the Organization’s Appellate Body in order to guarantee a fair, binding and two-tier dispute settlement system.
Regarding the work programme on small economies, the Cuban delegation regretted that, two decades after the Doha mandate, progress remains limited and focused exclusively on technical analyses.
Cuba warned that the current approach has shifted towards areas such as digital trade without addressing structural asymmetries or ensuring genuine market access, thus leaving small developing nations with a marginal share of global trade of less than 1%.
Likewise, the largest of the Antilles called for the rigorous and non-selective implementation of agreements adopted at previous WTO Ministerial Conferences. In this regard, Cuba reaffirmed that the future of the Organization depends on its ability to respond effectively to the needs of all its Members, particularly those of the Global South countries.
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