WTO chief leaves before term expires for personal reason

The head of the World Trade Organisation says he will leave his post a year before his term expires, an unprecedented mid-term resignation at the WTO that he called a personal decision.

Roberto Azevedo, a former diplomat from Brazil, said he will step down on August 31, cutting short a seven-year tenure marked in recent years by intense pressure from US President Donald Trump, who accused the Geneva-based trade body of an anti-US bias and other complaints.