Will Trump Turn His Trade Guns on the WTO?: QuickTake Q&A

President Donald Trump has vowed to reshape the global trading system, saying the U.S. would prioritize its trade laws over the World Trade Organization’s rules. America plans to defend its “national sovereignty over trade policy,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative wrote in an annual document in March. Trump’s newly confirmed trade chief, Robert Lighthizer, has said that a “slavish dedication” to WTO rules“makes very little sense.” All this could move the WTO to center stage as Trump disavows one trade agreement after another and the threat of a global trade war looms.

As a candidate, he said the WTO was a “disaster” and threatened to withdraw from the organization. While the more recent comments from Trump’s trade office represent a ratcheting up of the rhetoric, it’s not clear how they’ll translate into action. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the comments aren’t official policy and don’t indicate “where we’re going.” Still, Trump in April ordered a review of all U.S. trade deals, including its participation in the the WTO, to see if any harm national interests and should be revised or terminated. His formal notification to Congress on May 18 that he intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, along with his earlier decision to pull the U.S. from a 12-nation trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, could bring greater focus to the WTO. It’s one of the last major, multilateral trade agreements or negotiations that Trump hasn’t disavowed.