ABU DHABI: A US-led push to reform the World Trade Organization’s embattled dispute settlement system sparked divisions at a WTO meeting Wednesday, with India accusing Washington of bringing the trade body to a “standstill”.

A working session on dispute settlement reform was held on the third day of the WTO’s 13th ministerial meeting (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, where little progress is expected on the issue amid major disagreements.

Washington, under former President Donald Trump, brought the system to a grinding halt in 2019 by blocking the appointment of new judges to the WTO’s appeals court, the organisation’s highest dispute settlement authority.

Dispute settlement reform is a “hard issue” but the dynamic in the negotiating room at MC13 is “constructive, it’s positive, it’s sober,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters on Wednesday.

But “there is more work to do,” she added, following the working session.

During the last WTO ministerial in 2022, member states reached a commitment to having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system in place by 2024.

The overall outcome of MC13 could only reiterate this commitment, despite demands by some member states, including India, for stronger progress at the Abu Dhabi talks.