TOKYO (AP) — Global free trade is in crisis, the head of the World Trade Organization chief said Tuesday while meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba on Tuesday.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, told Ishiba that she has high expectations for Japan as a champion of open markets as U.S. President Donald Trump disrupts world commerce with his fast-changing tariffs and other policies.
“Trade is facing very challenging times right now and it is quite difficult,” she said. “We should try to use this crisis as an opportunity to solve the challenges we have and take advantage of new trends in trade.”
Japan, as “a champion of the multilateral trading system” must help maintain, strengthen and reform the WTO, the Japanese Foreign Ministry cited her as saying.
Later Tuesday, the WTO chief met with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and issued a joint statement, saying that “in a time of uncertainty and disruption, the value of the multilateral trading system is unquestionable.” Japan said in the same statement the current trade turmoil “would have a significant impact on the global economy and the entire multilateral trading system” and called for promoting WTO reforms, including its rule-making function, dispute settlement and monitoring of the implementation of agreements.
They met a day after the United States and China said they had agreed to slash recent sky- high tariffs for 90 days to allow time for negotiations.
Japan is among many countries yet to reach a deal with the Trump administration on hikes to U.S. tariffs, including those on autos, steel and aluminum.
The WTO played a pivotal role in past decades as the U.S. and other major economies championed the trade liberalization that facilitated the growth of global supply chains, many of which are anchored in China. By dismantling many protectionist barriers to trade, it has aided the ascent of Japan and China, and many other countries, as export manufacturing hubs.
Since taking office for a second time, Trump has prioritized higher tariffs to try to reduce U.S. imports and compel companies to locate factories in the United States, doubling down on a trade war that he launched during his first term.
Okonjo-Iweala and Ishiba agreed that WTO member countries should unite to restore the organization's capacity to address challenges.
The trade chief visited Japan to strengthen cooperation between the east Asian country and the WTO to maintain and reinforce the multilateral trading system, Japanese officials said.
She also met with Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto.
Associated Press video journalist Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Vice minister of Finance Liao Min, left, gestures toward a journalist at a news conference at the Chinese mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, May 11, 2025, alongside Vice Premier He Lifeng and Li Chenggang, vice minister of commerce. (AP Photo/Jamey Keaten)
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, left, meets with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the latter's office in Tokyo Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, left, shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the latter's office in Tokyo Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — By the time Phil Mickelson reached the 18th green at Oakmont on Friday evening, the once-packed grandstand was maybe a quarter-full. Same for the luxury suites.
There was no grand gesture as the 54-year-old Mickelson loped up the hill. No wave to the crowd the way Arnold Palmer did in the same spot on the same course 31 years ago. No lengthy standing ovation from the gallery in return either.
The man whose decades-long pursuit of the U.S. Open made him a fan favorite in his prime — not unlike Palmer in some ways — instead quietly marked his ball 16 feet from the hole, then walked over to the far edge of the green and stared at the leaderboard that glowed in the rainy twilight.
A birdie would have let Mickelson stick around for the weekend at his 34th — and perhaps last — trip to the national championship. Wearing a white hat featuring the logo of his LIV Golf team, the HyFlyers GC, Mickelson stood over the line trying to get the right read.
When the putt slid a foot left of the hole to keep Mickelson one outside the cut at plus-8, a small groan arose from those who stuck around. There was a shout or two of “We love you Phil!” Along the railing, a man leaned toward a friend and said, "His exemption is done. No more U.S. Open for you Phil.”
Maybe, maybe not.
The five-year exemption into the tournament that Mickelson received when he captured the 2021 PGA Championship is expiring. Whether he'll be back to make a run at the one major that has eluded him is anyone's guess.
Mickelson sure isn't saying. He politely declined to talk to reporters after emerging from the scoring area, disappearing into the clubhouse and an uncertain future at a tournament where he's been a runner-up six times.
There are a number of ways for Mickelson to make it to Shinnecock next June. The USGA could offer him an exemption, as it did at Torrey Pines in 2020, though that doesn't appear to be USGA chief championship officer John Bodenhamer's first choice.
“I think the way that we would also think of Phil is we hope he earns his way in, and I think he’d tell you the same thing,” Bodenhamer said Wednesday. "That’s what he did last time. We gave him one and then he went out and won the PGA Championship. So wouldn’t put it past him.”
Mickelson became the oldest major champion ever when he triumphed at Kiawah in 2021 at age 50. A lot has happened since then. Both on the course and off it.
The man known universally as “Lefty” played a major role in LIV Golf's rise, a move that has taken a bit of the shine off of his popularity back home.
And while Mickelson's game can still show flashes — he really did knock a sideways flop shot into the hole during a LIV event last week in Virginia — and he looks fitter now than he did two decades ago, the reality is the swashbuckling approach that once endeared him to so many doesn't work that much anymore at the U.S. Open.
Mickelson appeared to be in solid position to play the weekend when he stood on the 15th tee. He even on the day and 4 over for the tournament, well inside the cutline. A tee shot into the ankle deep rough at the 489-yard par 4 led to double bogey.
He still seemed to be OK when he got to 17, a short uphill par 4. His tee shot sailed into the rough above a greenside bunker. There would be no magic this time. His attempted flop splashed into the sand instead. He blasted out to 25 feet and three-putted for another double bogey.
That put him in a position he's been familiar with for a long time: heading to 18 at the U.S. Open needing to make a birdie of consequence. It didn't happen. And as he disappeared into the clubhouse, along with it came the realization that at this point, it likely never will.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Phil Mickelson watches his tee shot on the 13th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
