Sweden nominates former EU trade chief Malmstrom for OECD post

Sweden is nominating former European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to be secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The 52-year-old Swedish politician is seeking to replace Angel Gurria, who announced in July that he would not seek a fourth term as chief of the Paris-based OECD. The OECD’s 37 member states have already begun a process aimed at selecting a new secretary general for a five-year term beginning June 1 next year.

In an interview with Bloomberg News ahead of the announcement Tuesday, Malmstrom said she has the right mix of experience, contacts and a commitment to international cooperation to make her a successful leader of the OECD.

“I’ve had a lot of experience on the multilateral scene both when it comes to trade but also other areas when it comes to the core competencies of the OECD,” she said. “The OECD is a forum that can really show how important multilateral cooperation is.”

Malmstrom, who completed her term as EU trade commissioner in 2019, is known for her efforts to reach landmark trade agreements with Canada, Japan and the Mercosur trading bloc. She was also the European Commissioner for Home Affairs from 2010 to 2014 and previously served as a member in the European parliament.

Globalization Questioned

Malmstrom said the OECD has an important role to play in helping nations recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. She also said she would seek to maintain the OECD’s current mission and support discussions related to carbon adjustment taxes and digital sales taxes.

“There is a momentum to make sure OECD continues to focus even more on sustainability, climate change, inclusive markets, and making the case for the good aspects of globalization because that is something that is being questioned more and more.”

Malmstrom downplayed the recent tensions between the U.S. and EU over the issue of digital sales taxes and said she has a good working relationship with officials in the Trump administration.

The U.S. and various European nations like France, and the U.K. are sparring over whether and how nations can extract tax revenue from American digital companies like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.

Though the U.S. and Europe have sought to address the issue of digital taxation through the OECD, those talks faltered in June after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said America would no longer participate and would impose retaliatory tariffs on nations that move forward with such taxes.

“It is reasonable to discuss a digital tax and OECD is the forum to do it,” Malmstrom said. “I think many of the Americans who have been engaged in these debates also think the OECD is the forum to do it.”

“Of course they have a view of multilateralism that is maybe not shared by everybody,” she added. “But in the OECD I think the coordination has been much easier.”