G20 members agree to reform World Trade Organisation, says EU official

G20 nations have agreed to reform the World Trade Organisation (WTO) according to European officials, with a preliminary draft of the announcement expected to be released at the end of the two-day meeting today.

An EU official has claimed that leaders have acknowledged the need to improve the WTO and are in support of doing so. 

An agreement comes after the United States insisted that the communique explicitly say the multilateral trading system was not working, having initially been an issue for them.

"We reiterate that trade is beneficial for utility, innovation, growth and employment, and we reiterate that the multilateral trading system is the framework in which we are all working and committed," the official said.

"But for the U.S. to acknowledge that, they had to get something in return, which was to say that this multilateral trading system does not work anymore, and does not meet the challenges that it has to meet," they added.

It was also claimed that the language around climate change was "a little bit more than the status quo but not backtracking".

Wording around steel and migration was also kept to a minimum so that an agreement was easier to reach at this stage.

"It's a disappointment and we'll not hide our disappointment. But at least we have it," the official added.

Final endorsements from the member nations are still required.