ZCZC
BCN-44
US-TRUMP-TRADE-WTO
‘Shape up or we’ll quit’, Trump tells WTO
WASHINGTON, Aug 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump has
threatened to pull the United States out of the World Trade Organization if
it does not “shape up.”
His remarks, made in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday, were
the latest in a series of attacks on institutions of the global order that
the US helped to build after World War II.
“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” Trump told the
news agency, describing the agreement to set the organization up as “the
single worst trade deal ever made”.
Trump, who has previously criticized the WTO’s dispute settlement system
as being unfavorable to the US, said Washington had “rarely won a lawsuit”
there although things began changing last year.
“In the last year, we’re starting to win a lot,” he said.
“You know why? Because they know if we don’t, I’m out of there.”
China, which is currently embroiled in a trade war with the US, joined the
WTO in 2001 — a move which US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has
described as a mistake.
Trump made the threat as Washington presses challenges at the WTO against
trading partners that have fought back against tariffs on importers that were
imposed by the Trump administration.
BSS/AFP/HR/1400