The US has rejected European Union’s proposal to reform the World Trade Organization, dealing a blow to international efforts to bolster the Geneva-based body, which has come under attack from President Donald Trump’s administration. At a WTO General Council meeting held recently, the US didn’t support the EU’s plan to avert the paralysis of the organisation’s appellate body, which mediates trade disputes that affect some of the world’s largest companies.

The move comes after the EU formally deposited blueprints aimed at addressing US concerns that the appellate body has overstepped its mandate. The WTO now enters a precarious year in which it may lose its ability to mediate disputes. The EU recently circulated two proposals that represent the first concrete texts aimed at fundamentally reforming the WTO’s dispute settlement system in a quarter century. The WTO requires consensus to amend the dispute settlement process.

Over the past year, the US has refused to consider any appellate body appointments because the forum’s members have strayed from their original mandate. Absence of reforms, a US block on new appointments will paralyse the forum by the end of 2019 because it won’t have the three panelists required to sign off on rulings.