Cedric Dupont of the Geneva Graduate Institute, an international relations professor and an expert in trade policies, law and the WTO, told AFP that Trump's moves had put the global trade body centre-stage but powerless to act.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked some parts of the military to propose what could be cut as part of a potential 8% spending reduction for them over each of the next five years, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, although it was unclear if the total defense budget would shrink.

President Trump, who disabled the World Trade Organization during his first term, is going after international free trade rules in place since the 1940s.