Trump threatens to withdraw US from World Trade Organisation

The president complains the US is treated unfairly in global trade and has blamed the WTO for allowing that to happen


Reuters August 31, 2018
US President Donald Trump listens to participants during an event at which he announced a grant for a drug-free communities support program in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, US, August 29, 2018. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump threatened in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation if “they don’t shape up,” in his latest criticism of the institution.

Such a move could undermine one of the foundations of the modern global trading system, which the United States was instrumental in creating.

Trump denies planning to pull out of WTO

“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” Trump said.

Trump has complained the United States is treated unfairly in global trade and has blamed the WTO for allowing that to happen. He has also warned he could take action against the global body, although he has not specified what form that could take.

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