The US ambassador to the World Trade Organization voiced regret Wednesday at the body's failure to reform its moribund dispute settlement system, as called for by the end of the year.
Countries had agreed to get a new system up and running this year, with Donald Trump's looming return to the White House piling on more pressure to reach a deal.
But during the last meeting of the year of the organisation's decision-making General Council this week, they failed to reach the finish line, said Maria Pagan, the US ambassador to the WTO.
"Dispute settlement reform didn't quite get there," she told reporters in an online briefing.
"We do regret that we did miss an opportunity to make fundamental reform."
The WTO has been trying to fix its dispute settlement system since, during Trump's first term in office, Washington brought the appeals portion of it to a grinding halt in 2019, after blocking appointments of new judges.
The United States, which had long accused the appeals court of unfair treatment and overreach, demanded a dramatic overhaul.
The administration of current President Joe Biden has stuck to the demand, with the US leading the charge on revived talks considering ways to replace the appellate body.
'Hard issues'
Pagan said that there had been "a lot of progress" in those talks, but divisions remained on "hard issues" like "what kind of appeal is necessary and appropriate".
Pagan insisted that other countries needed to take US concerns "seriously".
"Some members were still just hoping that we would just change our minds, which, you know, we have not," she said.
She pointed out that before the appellate body ceased operations five years ago, "there was very little confidence in its fairness in the United States".
"The concerns about the dispute settlement system transcends Republican-Democratic divisions and administrations," she stressed.
Pagan insisted though that Washington remained "open to understanding what others need and seeing how we can match what our concerns are with what the fundamental interests of the others are".
It remains unclear though if the incoming Trump team will feel the same.
Pagan, who confirmed she planned to retire after the US administration changes hands from a Democratic to a Republican president, said she had so far no contact with Trump's transition team and no insight into its planned course of action.
"I don't know what the future will bring," she said.