Once the W.T.O.’s Biggest Supporter, U.S. Is Its Biggest Skeptic
- 6 years ago
Once the W.T.O.’s Biggest Supporter, U.S. Is Its Biggest Skeptic
“And there’s a very different idea between these two things.”
The Trump administration has also been slower than its predecessors to bring trade cases against other countries at the World Trade Organization — cases
that the United States frequently wins, Mr. Bown said.
Mr. Trump’s top trade negotiator, United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer, has been critical of the appellate body for passing judgments
outside the scope of the original World Trade Organization agreement — akin to what some in the United States term “judicial activism.”
In a speech in Washington in September, Mr. Lighthizer said that Americans tended to view the trade group as a contract with clearly defined rights.
That could soon result in a situation where the United States is losing cases, but not winning many — a set of circumstances
that could fuel opposition to the World Trade Organization in the White House, he said.
In recent months, the Trump administration has led the United States in stepping back from its traditional role at the head of global
institutions like the World Trade Organization, creating a vacuum in leadership and throwing their future into question.
In a separate investigation into China’s infringement of American intellectual property, administration officials are currently debating whether to use existing global rules (by filing trade cases through the World Trade Organization) or break them (by erecting the kind of across-the-board tariff on Chinese imports
that President Trump often pledged during the campaign).
That includes the decision to join the European Union in arguing its case before the World Trade Organization for not labeling China a “market economy” — a distinction
that would entitle China to preferential economic treatment that the United States feels it does not deserve.
“And there’s a very different idea between these two things.”
The Trump administration has also been slower than its predecessors to bring trade cases against other countries at the World Trade Organization — cases
that the United States frequently wins, Mr. Bown said.
Mr. Trump’s top trade negotiator, United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer, has been critical of the appellate body for passing judgments
outside the scope of the original World Trade Organization agreement — akin to what some in the United States term “judicial activism.”
In a speech in Washington in September, Mr. Lighthizer said that Americans tended to view the trade group as a contract with clearly defined rights.
That could soon result in a situation where the United States is losing cases, but not winning many — a set of circumstances
that could fuel opposition to the World Trade Organization in the White House, he said.
In recent months, the Trump administration has led the United States in stepping back from its traditional role at the head of global
institutions like the World Trade Organization, creating a vacuum in leadership and throwing their future into question.
In a separate investigation into China’s infringement of American intellectual property, administration officials are currently debating whether to use existing global rules (by filing trade cases through the World Trade Organization) or break them (by erecting the kind of across-the-board tariff on Chinese imports
that President Trump often pledged during the campaign).
That includes the decision to join the European Union in arguing its case before the World Trade Organization for not labeling China a “market economy” — a distinction
that would entitle China to preferential economic treatment that the United States feels it does not deserve.