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WTO Chief Sees Rocky Road for Trade Deals at Global Meeting

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks at the opening ceremony of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 12, 2022. (Reuters)
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks at the opening ceremony of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 12, 2022. (Reuters)
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WTO Chief Sees Rocky Road for Trade Deals at Global Meeting

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks at the opening ceremony of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 12, 2022. (Reuters)
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks at the opening ceremony of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 12, 2022. (Reuters)

World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed cautious optimism on Sunday that more than 100 trade ministers meeting in Geneva would achieve one or two global deals this week, but warned the path there would be bumpy and rocky.

The director-general from Nigeria said the world had changed since the WTO's last ministerial conference nearly five years ago.

"I wish I could say for better. It has certainly become more complicated," she told a news conference before the June 12-15 meeting, listing the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war, and major food and energy crises as pieces of a "polycrisis".

Speaking to ministers at the opening, the WTO chief urged them to "show the world that the WTO can step up to the plate" and achieve agreements on subjects such as reducing fishing subsidies, boosting access to COVID-19 vaccines, addressing food security and setting a course for reform of the WTO itself.

"What remains to be decided requires political will - and I know you have it - to get us over the finish line," she said.

However, she warned that it would be challenging.

"Let me be clear, even landing one or two will not be an easy road. The road will be bumpy and rocky. There may be a landmine along the way," Okonjo-Iweala said, adding she was "cautiously optimistic" that the meeting would conclude with one or two deals.

She also cautioned ministers to recognize that compromises are never perfect. The WTO's 164 members take decisions by consensus, meaning a single member can block progress, and negotiations often last years.

The 27-year-old WTO is itself in trouble. Former US President Donald Trump crippled the WTO's Appellate Body that rule on disputes over two years ago, and WTO members have only ever agreed one global deal, the red-tape cutting Trade Facilitation Agreement, in 2013.

In a sign of the global difficulties, Sunday's opening session meeting was dedicated to "challenges facing the multilateral trading system".

Campaign groups gathered near the body's lakeside headquarters over the weekend, some denouncing capitalism and others calling for an end to "vaccine apartheid". They were all barred from entering the WTO headquarters on Sunday on security grounds, according to an email seen by Reuters.

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Oil Gains, Stocks Slip on Uncertain Mideast Peace Prospects

A fuel storage facility at Russia's main oil export hub in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk (Reuters)
A fuel storage facility at Russia's main oil export hub in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk (Reuters)
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Oil Gains, Stocks Slip on Uncertain Mideast Peace Prospects

A fuel storage facility at Russia's main oil export hub in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk (Reuters)
A fuel storage facility at Russia's main oil export hub in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk (Reuters)

Oil prices jumped while stock markets mostly retreated and the dollar firmed Thursday as hopes of a Middle East peace accord faded on conflicting headlines on the state of talks.

US President Donald Trump has described the latest discussions as being on the "borderline" between a deal and renewed strikes.

Pakistan's army chief was due in Iran on Thursday, Iranian media reported, with Islamabad mediating as Tehran examines a new US proposal to end the war, AFP reported.

"Markets pulled back across Europe as the waiting game to end the Iran war rumbled on," said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

Wall Street's main indices also dipped at the open.

There were earlier big gains for technology stocks in Asia after chip giant Nvidia posted record quarterly revenue of $81.6 billion, blowing past analyst forecasts on the voracious demand for artificial intelligence hardware.

Sentiment was also boosted by Elon Musk's filing for a public sale of SpaceX shares, which could be the largest initial public offering in history as the rocket and satellite company seeks to raise up to $75 billion.

"This could be a blockbuster summer for IPOs with OpenAI also expected to list in the coming weeks," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

"How the market absorbs these new listings will be crucial for the future of the AI trade, as both companies are at the heart of the AI revolution," she said.

South Korea's benchmark Kospi index surged 8.4 percent, helped by Samsung Electronics shares after unions paused a 18-day strike.

Japan's Nikkei index ended with a gain of 3.1 percent.

But despite the group's profit growth, Nvidia shares failed to get a boost as they have in previous quarters, gaining 0.2 percent after trading got underway in New York.

With tech shares, whose staggering rises helped drive markets to record highs in recent months, now considered by many investors to be overvalued, investment analyst Bret Kenwell at eToro said there were worries that a pullback was in store.

"While geopolitical risks could still flare up, the more pressing issue appears to be macro-related," he said, pointing to the recent rise in sovereign bond yields and the prospect of central banks raising interest rates.

The yields demanded by investors to lend to governments by buying their bonds have peaked in recent days, indicating weakening confidence in their economies and inflation fears.

After tech gains in Asia, attention turned to US-Iran war developments and the potential fallout for economies on the continent, sending European stocks lower.

The EU warned Thursday that eurozone growth would be less than expected this year and inflation significantly higher than forecast, as the Mideast war and subsequent energy shock take their toll.

It came as a key survey revealed that business activity in the eurozone contracted further in May, weighed down by weak demand caused by a conflict.

British private-sector activity also unexpectedly contracted this month, marking the first decline in output in over a year, S&P Global added.

"The UK economy is facing a perfect storm, as rising political uncertainty adds to the growing impact from the war in the Middle East," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

In other corporate news, French video game giant Ubisoft saw its shares plunge around 11 percent after it reported disappointing annual results and forecast further pain in the coming year.

The "Assassin's Creed" and "Rayman" developer had warned in January of the likely impact, with seven games cancelled and six delayed.

Business

flynas Says Direct Flights Between Riyadh, Milan Start Thursday

The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA)
The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA)
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flynas Says Direct Flights Between Riyadh, Milan Start Thursday

The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA)
The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA)

flynas has announced the launch of direct flights connecting Riyadh with Milan, SPA reported.

Starting Thursday, the airline will operate three weekly direct flights between King Khalid International Airport and Milan Malpensa Airport.

Business

SpaceX Reveals Plans for What Could be Biggest-ever Initial Public Offering

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk walks to attend the trial in his lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion at a federal courthouse, in Oakland, California, US, April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk walks to attend the trial in his lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion at a federal courthouse, in Oakland, California, US, April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo
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SpaceX Reveals Plans for What Could be Biggest-ever Initial Public Offering

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk walks to attend the trial in his lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion at a federal courthouse, in Oakland, California, US, April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk walks to attend the trial in his lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion at a federal courthouse, in Oakland, California, US, April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo

Elon Musk announced plans Wednesday for one of the biggest stock sales ever by taking public a space company that is currently losing billions of dollars a year.

A filing shows that his SpaceX lost $2.6 billion from operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue, and the losses kept piling up at the start of this year, too.

The prospectus did not put a dollar figure on the amount Musk hopes to raise, but various reports have put it at $75 billion or so.

SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has said the money will help finance projects to put people on the moon and Mars in its quest to make humans an intergalactic species as they face existential threats that could wipe out civilization.

“We do not want humans to have the same fate as dinosaurs,” the filing states.

The prospectus reads in part like a Hollywood fantasy version of the future, detailing in one section how part of Musk’s compensation will be granted only if he maintains “a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants.”

Short of that, the stock sale alone could make Musk, a major owner who founded SpaceX in 2002, the world’s first trillionaire. Forbes currently puts his net worth at $839 billion.

In addition to making reusable rockets to hurl astronauts into orbit, SpaceX has other businesses, some successful, some struggling — and with plenty of questions marks.

The document shows that Starlink, the world’s largest satellite communications company, is a big source of cash for the company, generating $4.4 billion in operating income last year. The business uses 10,000 satellites in low orbit to provide internet service to 10 million people in 150 countries and territories.

Among the struggling businesses are two Musk units that were recently acquired by SpaceX — his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and his artificial intelligence business, xAI.

Those purchases were blasted by some SpaceX investors as bailouts because they are big money losers.

The prospectus said its AI business lost $6.4 billion in operations last year.

The original SpaceX business, making rockets and staging launches, has been helped by massive government contracts, which raises questions that could come back to haunt the company. Given Musk’s close relation to the Trump administration, government ethics lawyers and watchdogs have asked if he has gotten special treatment to win taxpayer money and whether that good luck will run out once President Donald Trump is out office.

SpaceX has won contracts worth $6 billion from NASA and the Defense Department and other government agencies in the past five years, according to USAspending.gov. The company noted in its filing that a fifth of its revenue last year was from the federal government, The Associated Press reported.

Musk was the biggest donor to Trump’s presidential campaign and is still a big backer despite their sometimes rocky relationship after his stewardship of the government cost-cutting effort called DOGE early last year.

Like many corporate CEOs, Musk’s compensation will go far beyond his annual salary, which was $54,080 in 2025 and has remained unchanged since 2019, according to the filing.

The prospectus says stock grants for him would be sliced into 15 nearly equal amounts — 67 million shares each — and would vest only as the company achieves preset market cap goals. In addition to the Martian colony, SpaceX’s stock market value would have to reach $7.5 trillion for him to receive the full award.

He would get even more stock awards if SpaceX manages to get giant data centers the size of football fields in space.

The document shows Musk will be able to exert big control over the business.

It says he and certain other shareholders will receive shares in a special class of stock that gives them 10 votes for each share they hold. Those shareholders will be able, among other things, to elect a majority of the company’s board of directors.

“This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors,” SpaceX said in a warning to prospective investors.

SpaceX will be able to pitch the offering to investors — in what’s known in Wall Street parlance as a “road show” — 15 days after making its prospectus public. In this case, that works out to June 4.