Donald Trump said in his interview with Bloomberg News that the US will possibly pull-out from the World Trade Organization (WTO) if it doesn’t shape up.
Talking about the relationships of the USA and WO, Donald Trump noted that the White House has recently been blocking the election of new judges to the WTO’s dispute settlement system, which could potentially paralyse its ability to issue judgments.
“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,”
President Trump said and added that the international body too often rules against the US, although he concedes it has won some recent judgments. Earlier, the American leader claimed on Fox News earlier this year that the WTO was set up “to benefit everybody but us”, adding: “We lose the lawsuits, almost all of the lawsuits in the WTO.”
Meanwhile, the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has accused the WTO of interfering with US sovereignty and supported Trump’s warning about a possible US pull-out from the international body of the UN system. Mr Lighthizer also highlights the conflict between the president’s protectionist trade policies and the open trade system that the WTO oversees.
The WTO was established to provide rules for global trade and resolve disputes between countries. However, some analysis shows the US wins about 90% when it is the complainant and loses about the same percentage when it is complained against.
However, Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, later dismissed the idea as “an exaggeration”, while the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, said in July he considered talk of withdrawing from the WTO “a little premature”.
Trump’s repetition of the idea came as he also told Bloomberg he wants to move ahead with a plan to impose tariffs on $200bn in Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period concludes next week.
