Trump reportedly wants to withdraw US from WTO

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - President Donald Trump wants to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to a report on Friday, which could push the country further into isolationism and greatly hurt global trade.

"He’s [threatened to withdraw] 100 times. It would totally [screw] us as a country," a source who discussed the subject with Trump told the Axios media outlet.

The source also said Trump has frequently told his advisers, "We always get [expletive] by them. I don’t know why we’re in it. The WTO is designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States."

Trump’s economic advisers pushed back when he raised the idea of withdrawal from the intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade. But, they have never put in place a policy to take the idea seriously, Axios said according to four sources with direct knowledge.

After the report, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business, "There’s no breaking news here," and added, "but this is an exaggeration."

If realized, Trump withdrawing his country from WTO could be the star that broke the camel’s back in the potential trade war the U.S. has engaged in with nations around the world in recent months.

After announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in early March, the U.S. and China have been trading retaliatory punches. The White House approved two weeks ago to impose tariffs worth $50 billion on China that was initially announced in April.

Trump also said it would impose measures to limit Chinese investment in the U.S. technology sector.

He threatened last week to impose more tariffs on all European cars after the European Union’s decision to place a 25 percent tariff on U.S. products.

The 28-member bloc said it would impose tariffs on goods worth $3.2 billion, including Harley Davidson motorcycles and Levi's jeans, in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs on European exports to the U.S.

Trump was also reported saying during the G7 summit in Canada earlier this month that NATO is "as bad as NAFTA,". A comment confirmed on Thursday by two European officials, according to news reports.

While the President wanted NAFTA to be renegotiated, he withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal in three days after his inauguration last January,

The U.S. has been a member of the WTO since its formation in 1995, and has won 85.7 percent of the cases it has initiated before the organization, according to Axios.