WTO head warns US exit to mean chaos for ‘business’

Bloomberg

The head of the World Trade Organization has responded to President Donald Trump’s threat to leave the institution by warning such a move would cause chaos for US companies operating around the world.
In an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg, Trump warned that he would withdraw from the WTO “if they don’t shape up.” The president also called the 1990s agreement establishing the body “the single worst trade deal ever made.”
Roberto Azevedo, the WTO’s director general, told Bloomberg that he was already working with the US and other members to address some common complaints. But he warned that a US exit from the WTO would have chaotic consequences for the global economy and the US itself.
“The scenarios are not going to be good for anyone,” he said. “The US is about 11 percent of global trade. So leaving the organisation would be a blow to the organisation. But it would be a blow to the US as well.”
In particular, he said, such a move would leave US businesses vulnerable to commercial discrimination and new tariffs around the world if non-US members were no longer bound by the WTO’s rules.
“That is the worst thing that could happen for an economy as globally connected as the American economy,” Azevedo said.
Global growth remains strong, he said. But even before the latest round of US and Chinese tit-for-tat tariffs, the WTO was concerned over rising protectionism in the world and Azevedo said “a number of alarms” are sounding.
Worse, protectionist measures “are spreading very, very quickly,” he said, with the US expected to move as soon as next week to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion in imports from China. The world’s two-biggest economies have already levied duties on $100 billion worth of each others’ products since July as talks failed to resolve US concerns over China’s trading practices.
Azevedo said he was in discussions with the US and other members about the need for reforms at the WTO and in global trading rules. “I suppose that is consistent with ‘shape up’,” he said, citing Trump’s comments.
In particular, a number of members other than the US shared Washington’s concerns about issues related to China.