Trump threatens to withdraw US from WTO

President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from the World Trade Organisation (WTO), claiming it treats the country unfairly.

Mr Trump said this in an interview with Bloomberg News that if the organization don’t shape up, he would withdraw from it.

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

The WTO was established to provide rules for global trade and resolve disputes between countries.

According to Mr Trump, the body too often rules against the US, which, although he concedes, it has won some recent judgments.

However the US president earlier this year on Fox news, claimed that the WTO was set up “to benefit everybody but us,” adding that “We lose the lawsuits, almost all of the lawsuits in the WTO.”

However, some analysis shows the US wins about 90 per cent when it is the complainant and loses about the same percentage when it is complained against.

Mr Trump’s warning about a possible US pull-out from the organisation highlights the conflict between the president’s protectionist trade policies and the open trade system that the WTO oversees.

Washington has also recently been blocking the election of new judges to the WTO’s dispute settlement system, which could potentially paralyse its ability to issue judgment, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.