The last thing the World Trade Organisation needs is another threat to its authority. Last year it saw the so-called Doha round of multilateral trade talks in effect declared dead after nearly 15 years of suffering.

The collapse of the WTO’s negotiating role has left as its only real function the dispute settlement process, which adjudicates between governments over existing trade rules and orders miscreants to bring policies into compliance. The fact that the US is now trying to subvert it by removing a judge who happens to disagree with the American viewpoint is seriously disturbing.

Washington has taken the unusual step of blocking the reappointment of Seung Wha Chang, a respected South Korean lawyer, to the appellate body (AB) of the dispute settlement system. Its stated objection is that he, along with other AB members, has gone beyond interpreting the law to creating it. But the US essentially stands alone in this contention. The reality is that Mr Chang has failed to back the US in cases in which Washington has been found in breach of WTO rules. This is not only unsettling for the WTO, but for the US’s supposed role as an anchor for the international rule of law.