The organization has produced little consensus among all of its members in recent years, but it is pushing to resolve a trade deal that would curb global overfishing by the end of the year. Dozens of countries, including China, have claimed developing country status in those talks, which would give them more time to enforce potentially costly new rules if any are agreed upon.

The United States trade representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Trump administration submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organization this year to exempt countries from developing country status if they are members of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development or if they are among the Group of 20’s most advanced economies. The proposal would also strip the developing country title from nations that the World Bank considers to be high-income countries, or make up at least 0.5 percent of global merchandise trade.

But some trade officials in Geneva have criticized that proposal as arbitrary and potentially disruptive to an organization that is based on consensus and voluntary action from countries.

“It has been a concern that predates the Trump administration,” Chad P. Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said of China’s claim of developing country status. “What’s new is the Trump administration is not interested in diplomatic niceties.”

The new announcement is part of a broader offensive on the World Trade Organization by the Trump administration, which argues that the group has failed to check China’s unfair economic behavior and is in desperate need of change.

The Trump administration has also nearly shut down the organization’s ability to settle trade disputes among its members. It has blocked appointments to a body that hears appeals to such disputes, arguing that the organization has overstepped its mandate and created a situation of judicial overreach that the United States never signed up for. In December, the body will have too few members to hear cases, leaving countries without a formal system to complete dispute settlements.

In taking on the developing country provision, the Trump administration could also be picking a global fight that would extend beyond China.