Trump Decided To Stay With WTO
Trump Decided To Stay With WTO: US President Donald Trump denied that he is planning to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“I’m not talking about pulling out,” he told reporters on Air Force One when asked about reports he was planning an exit from the the global trading body. Trump has branded the WTO a “disaster” and flouted international trade norms by hitting key allies with stinging tariffs, and imposing crippling fees on Chinese goods in the name of US national security.
US news website Axios cited sources saying Trump has repeatedly told his top officials he wants to exit the world body, which Washington helped design and most often rules in favor of the United States when Washington brings cases before it.
But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier it would be an “exaggeration” to say Trump is planning to quit the WTO. “I won’t use our favourite word about the fake news, but this is an exaggeration,” Mnuchin told.
“The president has been clear with us and with others he has concerns about the WTO. He thinks there’s aspects of it that aren’t fair.” Although Trump complains that China and others have used the WTO system to their own advantage, “we are focused on free trade” and “breaking down barriers,” Mnuchin said.
The bill, called the “United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act,” ignores fundamental WTO principles, said Axios, which reported that it obtained a leaked draft. Those principles include the prohibition of nations setting different tariff rates for countries outside of free trade agreements and the established tariff ceilings that WTO countries have agreed to.
If the bill were to be passed, “it would be the equivalent of walking away from the WTO and our commitments there without us actually notifying our withdrawal,” a source familiar with the matter told the Axios. Still, that source said Congress would “never” pass such a measure.
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told Axios that the bill was still far from becoming a reality. “The only way this would be news is if this were actual legislation that the administration was preparing to rollout, but it’s not,” she said.
The report comes just a few days after Trump reportedly told several government officials that he wished to withdraw the United States from the regulatory organization.
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