Trump considers pulling the US out of WTO

US President Donald Trump said in an interview on Thursday that he was thinking about pulling the United States out of the World Trade Organization if "they don't shape up."

Speaking with Bloomberg News, Trump said that the WTO had treated the US "very badly."

The president has often complained that the United States is treated unfairly in global trade, and has blamed the WTO for allowing that to happen. This coincides with several nations threatening to take legal action against the US through the WTO over the White House's trade wars.

The US and Russia have also launched competing WTO complaints against one another for raising duties on goods like aluminum and steel.

 

Trump has already disrupted global trade by imposing tariffs on partners like the European Union, Mexico, Canada, and China, and pulling the US out of the WTO could cause further uncertainty.

The highly controversial tariffs have been disputed even inside the White House, with former economic advisor Gary Cohn stepping down last spring over his condemnation of them.

es/rc (dpa, Reuters)