The World Trade Organization opened a conference Sunday under the cloud of US hostility to  multilateral trade accords.

The 164-member WTO is also wracked by disagreements over China and has been struggling to kickstart stalled trade talks.

The Buenos Aires meeting, which lasts through Wednesday, is the first in the era of US President Donald Trump, who has pummeled the body relentlessly since taking office, describing it as a "disaster."

The Trump administration has made the WTO a preferred target of its "America First" policy, threatening to pull the US out of the trade organization it says is hampering its ability to compete.

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri said, in opening remarks, that "WTO problems get fixed with more WTO -- not with less WTO."