The USA has been engaged in a trade war with Chine for the past 10+ years as China has been dumping steel, aluminum, and other goods in our domestic markets and the WTO has done nothing. The WTO has proven itself to be afraid of China (much like the ineffective UN) hence its inability to get anything done. The so called diplomats in Geneva can pound sand.
4
I own a very small manufacturing facility and I want to tell you the reality that we've faced for years. I pay a skilled welder approximately $24.00 per hour. This is enough, it appears to me, for this employee to help put his wife through school and live a very modest life.
For the price of his wage, I could hire thirty Chinese welders at eighty cents per hour (this figure is three years old, I don't know what they're making today). There are commenters here, and this paper, who would say "Too bad so sad," this guy should just go retrain himself to do something else. But here's the thing none of you can really understand: This guy doesn't want to do that. He likes what he does and he voted for a President who said: "I'm going to help you."
The Democratic message - the establishment message - is what got us here. Clinton's subjugation of American working people to organizations like the WTO is what got us here. The Democrats, throwing working people under the international bus, is what got us here. The arrogance of the elite, telling the majority of Americans that they were on their own in this world and subject to competition from workers who were being paid a thirtieth of their wage, is what got us here. The Democrats are getting slapped in the face for their disavowal of the people they claimed - in large part - to represent. They can't be spat upon enough.
Trump is doing exactly what he promised and this is exactly why we voted for him.
8
Getting tough in China on trade is one thing on which I agree with him. China has continued to block access to their markets in many industries and is in fact trying to kick out multinationals. They have not lived up to their promises and agreements with the WTO to increase access and full ownership of businesses in China. They have also stolen intellectual property or forced the handover of IP as the price of admission. They also force certain industries like automobile to form joint ventures with Chinese companies (often government owned) so that they can gain know how. This is understandable in early stages of economic development but they are no longer at that stage.
China has also flexed its military muscle in the Southeast Asian seas first reclaiming land to create artificial island and then upgrading them to military bases. They now harass fishing vessels and even the US navy.
The current man in our White House can be voted out. The newly declared emperor for life of China Xi Jinping has every intention to solidly his total control of his government and continue suppression of individual rights to restore China to its previous standing as the most advanced empire in the world.
A strong democratic & free China is welcome but it is not what it is turning out to be. These trade sanctions and enforcement may be painful in the short term but is needed to tell China that their behavior is unacceptable. We
need to push back their aggressive military expansion next.
6
What I can not seem to understand is why Trump, a clear and present danger to national security, is allowed to remain so. The U.S. has removed tyrants like Trump from other countries, for doing far less damage then Trump has already incurred on this nation.
1
If China did not live up to the commitments it made 20 years ago as a condition of joining the WTO then why does the WTO continue to allow China to remain as a member?
The WTO should not have let China in until China could demonstrate that it is a market economy comparable to the other WTO members - with free trading currency, free cross-border capital flows, labor unions that are independent of the Communist Party,private capital investment decisions free of government interference, and the role of State-Owned Enterprises limited to a few sectors such as electric and gas utilities. and railways.
This would have limited China's growth rate and integration into the world economy but would have benefited all in the long run. China's admittance into the WTO has created an totalitarian economic powerhouse that poses a greater challenge to world freedom than the Soviet Union did. The best option for the West would be to kick China out of the WTO and only let them back in if/when they reform. However since this is not politically possible, our next best option is the make the WTO irrelevant and replace it with a new series of agreements between like-minded free nations. This is where Trump is going, and it is the right thing to do.
5
Trump does not know what he is doing.
But it is clear that something needs to be done. The United States has been in decline for several generations now. We are frittering away our wealth and power.
And we are doing this right before the effects of climate change really start kicking in.
For all the wrong associated with the West- Colonialism, Imperialism- we can be certain that the imperialism practiced by countries like China will be worse.
The old power structures no longer protect American interests. The US cannot be the only country that places world institutions before the well-being of its citizens.
The US owes the world NOTHING.
3
In a game of chess, the forward thinking player will often win.
We don't have a thinker, let alone a forward thinker.
Check mate?
1
To fix the problem will take time. This is not an easy thing to do overnight. Many industries left fo offshore shops and to bring them back will take a while.
I do give credit to president Trump to bring up the issue. The last three administrations just let it happen and many important industries move. One of them is the PC industry, where it started in the seventies and is now mostly made in china. High tech industries are very essential for national security and should be back here.
6
People need to understand where Trump is coming from. His surrogate father was basically Roy Cohn. The way you operate is to seed chaos, because it is in chaos that crooks can get away with murder.
Deregulate, sow chaos and everyone will be too busy putting out fires, fighting with each other to notice the robber barons in your pockets.
Putin will be especially happen with this, since he will be the biggest beneficiary of all the distractions. Look for Russians to make moves all along the former Soviet border states during this time.
1
As Marlon Brando said, The horror, the horror.
the usa generally feels everything it does is right and all other countries on the face of the earth can only beat 'merica by cheating.
this is not new to trump. he is just the most extreme example.
2
All we need to know is that Trump is entirely ignorant of anything going on in the world. Why are people debating any of his policies?
2
Trump will be known as the man who ruined the world. If there is a world.
2
Trump, our "so-called" president is ALL about self-interest and tendencies to exacerbate ALL negative sentiments. If he keeps his own staff in turmoil and says he doesn't want the press to telegraph his next moves before he has the chance to spotlight things for himself, ever the showman, what can the world expect of h. If he can't be counted on by his family to do what he promised or took a vow to uphold, or his staff to stick with a choice made, what does that say about world stability and choices he makes, without regard to anyone else, including the World Trade Organization. He is not credible as a world leader. He is more than likely, doing what's best for his businesses and his pal Putin's, as that has been the only thing he has been consistent on. Other than those interests, he shows no great love or concern for anyone else, including his base, as he in effect called them stooges, when he said, "I wouldn't lose any votes, if I murdered someone on Fifth Avenue". Why the Republican Party never vetted him nor forced the release of tax returns, and continue to support him is beyond the pale. As my Dad used to say, "He'd lie when the truth would serve him better", as with the Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau. I can see NO redeeming characteristics, but this being Holy Week, I know Jesus came for us sinners, and he is the chief. Yet, there is no repentance or change in him, as he plunges the world into chaos and confusion. God save us, as only HE can!
1
As part of the TPP trade treaty, China had gone so far as to agree to allow labor unions to operate freely in China. Trump threw it in the trash, as part of his "destroy all things Obama" policy. Now we have a trade war that will be detrimental to the US economy, and ruin our standing in the world. So much for the long standing plank in the Republican platform of supporting free trade. The stock market is tanking. If Trump had simply done NOTHING as a president, we would be in much better shape. Instead he has to go in and muck up everything.
2
It sounds like China deals in the same manner as the Trump Organization.
2
The WTO's irrelevance is richly deserved. Its rules have failed to keep up with the times and China has run rings around it. Hence, Trump and the rising populism across the West.
7
China has made a fool of the WTO for the last 30 plus years, in the process they pulled 600 million people out of poverty using other people's money. Good for them, good for their people, very bad for the working men and women in the USA!
7
Americans love of cheap goods is responsible for the rise of China - their beloved Walmart and other big box stores shut down US sourcing. And now you are angry? You flock to Trump’s goods - all made in China. Hypocrites all!
1
trump just pushed US businesses and agriculture toward irrelevance
There. Fixed the headline.
1
So at least THREE Times headlines screaming "Trump says..." or "Trump Heads South" or "Trump..."
That may be a new record?
But ENOUGH!
WHY keep feeding his moronic ego, especially since seeing his OWN name in the lead item(s) in the news is ALL he wants, according to many sources?
How about taking the first step in breaking the media's addiction to Trump and any and all stories connected with this totally toxic person?
1
Trump stated that Xi Jinping's becoming president for life is admirable and that "we should try that some day." He considers himself to be a president for life already - and the Republic party (with its evangelical core excusing his serial sexual misconduct in a deal with Satan mentality) continues to enable him.
Meantime the Democrats lack leadership and a clear, appealing and vigorous message.
We are getting precisely what the big boys are paying for. Who will rescue our great nation?
1
The Democratic message is what got us here. Clinton's subjugation of American working people to organizations like the WTO is what got us here. The Democrats, throwing working people under the international bus, is what got us here. The arrogance of the elite, telling the majority of Americans that they were on their own in this world and subject to competition from workers who were being paid a thirtieth of their wage, is what got us here. The Democrats are getting slapped in the face for their disavowal of the people they claimed - in large part - to represent. They can't be spat upon enough.
Trump is doing exactly what he promised and this is exactly why we voted for him.
4
The real problem is that China stopped buying US Treasury bond lately. When China makes trade surpluses, they used to buy treasury bond. In essence, they lend money back to us. This is a perfect business cycle - we buy things we don't make and use money we don't have (borrow from China, Japan, & rest of the world). But gradually China discovered that our Treasury is worth less and less. Like any reasonable entity, China wants real stuff like real estate properties, commodities, and technical expertise. Somehow, in the name of national security, we decline to sell. Thus, China declines to buy Treasuries, and they diversify to other currencies such as Euro, British Pound, and gold. Our most recent Treasury auction was a disaster due to fewer people wants to buy it. In the meantime, we cannot lower our spending habit. Thus we have to use trade war to bring China back to negotiate or buy our Treasury again.
1
whatever failures the u.s. had in foreign interference, wars, hypocritical policy etc. and there were and are many. it was still the bulwark for rule of law and due process. the size of our economy and power of our military gave the u.s. the gravutas required.
in trump, putin has found a most effective weapon in undermining both rule of law and due process. without these pillars civilization is reduced to chaos and in chaotic system the strong man rules.
putin has no chance to dominate a world with a world order, nor was he able to dent ir damage it with russian outright force. but with trump he has found a devastating weapon to attack it from the inside out.
2
If Trump were trying to damage the economy of the free world, he would behave exactly as he has. This week's stock market shows the results. He is truly the Kremlin's Manchurian Candidate.
2
This is just another reason for the left to hate Trump. China has been running roughshod over the US for many years. The government subsidizes many things like solar panels and steel making their products much cheaper than the US can compete. Trump is standing up to China because Obama, Bush and Clinton would not.
4
he's not standing up to china, hes tearing down world order at the behest if putin.
putin is sudelined when there us rule if law and due process.
putin like thugs and the mafia gain when there us chaos.
there are legitimate complaints afainst china, there us also a legitimate way to address these issues.
throught the WTO, not with potshot tariffs.
1
China did not steal American jobs or technology; they were brought to China on a silver platter by American firms seeking to profit through advances in communications and transportation technology to take advantage of dirt-cheap labor and lax or non-existant worker protection and environmental regulations.
In other words; greed.
Casting American corporations as innocent victims who really care about American workers is nonsense. The same for expecting politicians to stand up against the hurricane wind of corporate money in our political system. Trump is spitting into that wind and it will come back on him.
3
I don't know what Trump thinks he is doing. But this is about more than China.
When 72 people die in a factory fire in Manila because it had bars on its windows, when over 1000 die in a collapsed factory in Bangladesh, and the USA cannot prohibit trade with those corrupt countries who violate basic human rights, without facing sanctions from the WTO, something is SERIOUSLY wrong with the system.
3
It was Bill Clinton who pushed for China's admission into the WTO and, as a result, between 2001 and 2009, the United States lost 42,400 factories. Clinton claimed that the agreement “creates a win-win result for both countries" and the President said that people who were against China's admission were “aligning themselves with the Chinese army and hard-liners in Beijing who do not want accession for China.” Clinton then went on to enact NAFTA, which American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner observed, “was less about trade and more about making it easier for U.S. based multinationals and banks to take over Mexican companies.”
4
WTO needs to be irrelevant to the U.S. It's leaders have been biased against the U.S. since the beginning.
5
Let us not forget that republicans in general and trump in particular do not belief that rules apply to them. Therefore, why have organizations such as the WTO? They only exist to restrict the powerful from using their full power. Better to ignore those pesky little rule making bodies.
This is the reason for four bankruptcies and the refusal of any but the shadiest (Putin) lenders loan any money to trump. The same can be said of the greedy, wimpy republican congress.
'Nuff said.
1
What I don't get is if we raise the global level of wealth (WTO,NAFTA) at the cost of American Jobs to try to create world peace. Aren't we missing the side effect of building up other countries with equal and as powerful defense? Heard of the saying no good deed goes unpunished?......China for example. 60 billion to 3 billion. Its because we make nothing to export, it left since 1994. Wasn't robots, it was trade agreements. I watched it first hand. All of NC plants/ factories closed before my eyes. All textiles plants left to China. It really cracks me up when people gripe about the Trump hat being made in China. When no textiles are produced anymore in the states. Just try to find a made in USA or Berry compliant cap. Good luck with that.
4
Trump complains of China cheating the international trade system.
Has Trump looked at how the US excludes sugar and meat imports from more efficient international producers?
Trump’s MAGA ignores that if the US starts to turn away from open international trade, it will be bad for rest of the world, but much worse for the US?
5
By unilaterally raising import duties on the Chinese goods, Trump first goes against the WTO rules, soon then in moments of cognitive dissonance he invokes the same rules against China for the alleged charges of intellectual property theft by it. How could Trump be anti-WTO and the pro-world trade body at the same time.?
3
WTO, and previously GATT, are mainly US-led global initiatives that favor US corporations operating in foreign countries. US corporations wanted legal and financial synchronization between commercial activities here and in foreign markets they operate in. Effectively it was the US imposing its commercial legal system on all other countries. Our economic clout was sufficient to browbeat all nations that trade with the US to join.
Ralph Nader, who fought both GATT and WTO, said "WTO is like a 100 meter dash except the US gets to start half way to the finish line and every other country has to race in lead boots."
Now Trump says it's a lousy deal for the US, even though we wrote the rules that guaranteed the primacy of the US as the world's economic hegemon.
Global cognitive dissonance will cost whatever remnants of trust, leadership and goodwill the US created over the past 5 decades.
Coming out of WW2, the US declared it would save the world from communism.
Now thanks to Trump the world needs to be saved from America.
Trump enjoys telling the lie that after 9/11, Muslims were seen dancing in the streets in New Jersey.
If 9/11 happened today, it wouldn't be a lie and it won't just be Muslims in New Jersey dancing but citizens of every nation around the world.
Save the world for democracy? We couldn't even save ourselves from Trump.
24
I am not a Trump fan or someone who voted for or supports him. But the WTO needs taken down a peg or ten. I've tried for years to figure out who represents the USA and how an American citizen can contact said representative and I have not found who that person is or how I might be able to contact them. Don't jump on the WTO is good bandwagon just because Trump is an unlikeable president. Whoever our representative on the WTO is, they are not working for the working class American.
8
This would be a good place to have some facts and figures. In various recent reports, it seems the US has won a much larger portion of its WTO cases against other countries, and has lost relatively fewer charges by others against the US.
That said, WTO is overdue to address the issue of China requiring US firms provide intellectual property in order to gain access to China's vast and growing consumer markets. To date, this topic has been addressed through negotiation of the US firm and Chinese companies, which are for all intents and purposes part of the Chinese government. About 20 years ago, GE's CEO noted, in the context of aircraft engines and the related technology, that China would build 100 new airports in the coming decade. The US was forecast to build only 1 or 2 in that time frame. So, GE would negotiate ways to participate in the China expansion - so that it could continue to produce and export engines from its US plants.
4
Trump’s disdain for established avenues of discourse fits his business style to a ‘T’. Who can be surprised by this maneuver? He would by-pass Congress if he could out a way to do it.
3
"Irrelevance"? On the contrary, the fallout from Pres. Trump's running off the rails may soon show why the world created the WTO in the first place.
17
The headline "Trump Just Pushed the World Trade Organization Toward Irrelevance" is not entirely correct. It should read as "Toward Greater Irrelevance."
In fact, the process of stripping WTO's relevance as the main forum for global trade accords and commercial conflict resolution took place in the 90s.
In the 1990s, the US government decided to abandon WTO's global time consuming and complex commercial negotiations in favor of regional trade integration modeled by NAFTA. Trump just hits the last nail on the WTO coffin, so to speak.
Unfortunately, a large number of well-trained diplomats and international civil service specialists may lose their cushy jobs in Geneva.
8
(1) The WTO has created this problem by overstepping its mandate. Mr. Azevedo is among the guilty, having represented Brazil in a challenge to U.S. subsidies that should have been barred by the Peace Clause. The Dispute Settlement Body has exceeded its mandate time and again, at the expense of the United States, which is the global trade equivalent of a deep-pocket defendant.(2) China pushed the WTO into irrelevance by flouting the rules.
If you don't want more Trumps, acknowledge the flaws of the system instead of pretending it's perfect.
9
"Mr. Trump was using extreme actions as a prelude to negotiation." China, of course, knows that and will make a tiny compromise and things will die down without any real changes. The question is who would be benefitted by this kind of cheap political games?
1
There is a subset of Republicans who have long rejected an international view of the world. We have examples going back to the 19th century from the No Nothing Party to the anti-immigrant movements of the 1910s to the rejection of the United Nations in the 1950s to the neo-nationalist view of Trump and the Alt-right.
These people are stuck in the 19th century in terms of their understanding of economics, thinking trade is simply the bartering of our products with those made in other countries with money being the means to conduct the transaction. They ignore the multinational nature of supply chains where components are made in different countries but assembled elsewhere. They ignore the overall increase in production by the U.S. from trade even if deficits continue. They ignore the trade in services where the U.S. has an advantage over most countries. And they ignore the influence the U.S. gains through being the 'buyer of last resort' for the world, which allows us to borrow money internationally at low interest rates and to exert our influence far beyond our shores.
But, Trump and all the people he brings into his administration are stuck in a time warp of some sort. Consequently, he acts in a way that will actually harm us over the long run. It does no good to explain to him why he is wrong, because he doesn't read and thinks he is always right. The only solution is to remove him from power, starting in November.
15
Wow. Such hostility to the WTO which has promoted fair and stable trade among nations for decades and can arguably take a lot of credit for relative peace. Nations that trade and are economically bound together within a framework of rules don’t go to war easily. Isolationists beware.
7
WTO, good riddance. Once Bill Clinton advocated for Chinese admission into WTO we’ll north of 10 million American jobs were sent to Chinese factories (labor camps) under the guise of free trade. Thousands of communities here were ruined to the joy and glee of those promoting the abstract concept of free trade and globalization as being more important than the human factor. Thus, paving the way for millions of disgruntled and abused Americans to vote for a guy like Trump.
Educated folks everywhere in this country still refuse to admit their complicity in promoting globalization at the expense of their fellow citizens. In fact, it seems to me, they take pleasure in mocking the lives of those who have suffered unnecessarily.
13
That's because among those "suffering needlessly" are the ones carping about individualism and pulling up yourself by the bootstraps, etc. So what, Americans can't compete in the global marketplace? Can't compete when the deck is stacked against them, as it is for many other people in the country (and the world)? I believe they can and many many do. I am not a conservative, but I was called one when I was younger since I strongly believed (and still believe) that one needs to get their act together and succeed inspite of obstacles thrown in their way (I also believe that people who are struggling need help, but I myself have this attitude about me). I even help out competitors so they can compete better against me: by making them stronger, I make myself stronger.
Globalisation is definitely one of those things that can be viewed as glass half full or half empty. But I can guarantee that regardless of what happens politically, given how technology is progressing, if you can't adapt, you won't be successful. It doesn't matter what your political philosophy or ideology is.
As far as things like the
11
You mean, better if those 10 million American jobs were been kept in good American lands than being "moved" to Asia? Do you know the degree of poverty China had? Of course you do, you just don't care. Or maybe you care, but not much.
I don't applaud that, I'm just raising the point that we should have a planetary conscience, nationalisms are understandable but not that great.
3
China does not engage using the same rules as other nations with its encompassing and profound system of state capitalism. As such it does not "play far." Your comment about competition intentionally ignores this reality. The current WTO, unable or unwilling to address this fundamental issue, is becoming thus irrelevant. I am horrified by Trump's unilateral and ill-conceived actions, but the basis for his ability to act as a bad actor has been laid by avoidance of facts on the ground by policy makers.
2
The WTO is just another instrument of diplomacy that has contorted itself into a shakedown scheme run by smaller nations to extract value from the U.S., not unlike the U.N. U.S. politicians have long been hoodwinked by "noble" global efforts at unity that come largely/solely at the expense of the U.S. The more the U.S. gives, in trade, treasure or military support, the more "worthy" the U.S. and it's leader. Our politicians and leaders have been as gullible as it gets for decades. Liberals and NeverTrumpers fret about these institutions like they are indisputably good and worthy, abetting a fraudulent system for awards, donations and cushy gigs. Maybe their north star should be the interests of the American people and not the plaudits of globalist backslappers.
9
Trump's actions will not make it better. The US is not the victim here, not even close. But Trump's actions and rules will make life for the average person worse in the long term. Wait and see.
6
"U.S. politicians have long been hoodwinked by "noble" global efforts at unity that come largely/solely at the expense of the U.S. The more the U.S. gives, in trade, treasure or military support, the more "worthy" the U.S. and it's leader. Our politicians and leaders have been as gullible as it gets for decades". You're delusional. The USA has and has had, for many many years very smart and ruthless negotiators who made the rules in favor of the USA. Of course.
2
They were irrelevant a long time ago.
2
"China has forced foreign companies to engage in joint ventures with Chinese counterparts ..." This is truly something I don't understand and remain puzzled.
China does not sneak in during the night and force the signing of a contract with a gun to people's heads. Having read any number of articles, it would seem that manufacturing costs in China are so attractive as to induce manufacturing firms to share key technologies in return for low manufacturing costs. Then they complain about it after the fact?
Why not do the manufacturing at home and keep the jobs here if we're going to get the technology ripped off? It is easy to see how the WTO is unable to control the situation if companies enter the agreements with misgivings, but proceed anyway.
Or do I not understand?
21
Companies go there not just for lower manufacturing cost, but for access to 400 million middle-class consumers. If you don't share your IP, you don't get access. Lots of companies decide the trade-off is worth it, so they do it, even though they hate it.
5
When a government starts forcing foreign companies that it lured to partner with a company it owns it is not free trade.
6
Without rules to police trade. the world economy will collapse. If I acted on my instincts I’d invest in prepper supply companies.
3
Countries should exercise their sovereignty by making their own rules with respect to the countries with which they trade.
The WTO is an UNELECTED international body that has the power to over-ride American laws with respect to America's trade with other countries. This is a fundamentally anti-democratic relationship.
6
All countries who became part of the WTO accepted the power of WTO as convenient and beneficial. USA impulsed the WTO, because it was seen as convenient for US interests.
My enemy's enemy is by no means necessarily my friend.
There is nothing I like about Trump, but there's also very little I like about the WTO, whose agenda is the facilitation of cross-trade business by multi-national corporations while neglecting every aspect of environmental conditions and labor rights.
The US participation in the WTO also means the handing over of sovereignty on the part of American citizens of our own decisions on trade, our own ability to make laws that promote higher environmental/labor standards and our ability to fight for improvement of those standards in other countries.
If the citizens of the USA conclude that it is wrong to allow the free import of certain items from countries that have wretched labor laws, then our American representatives should be allowed to make laws that prohibit the import or impose tariffs on those goods and countries, without having to face lawsuits and fines through the WTO.
13
You are absoutely half right. You are dead wrong if you think that Donald Trump is on a mission to trash the WTO in order to protect enviironmental standards and labor rights. One could make a case that globalization has been a process at least since Marco Polo. Somewhere along the way the thrust of world trade became to seek and exploit cheap labor. One can understand the tolerance of China's abusive conduct in its demand for proprietary information and unfair partnerships by the fact Chinese labor was cheap and its environmental standards absent, therefore producing great profits. Now that Chinese labor is becoming more expensive and its government is beginning to develop and enforce environmental standards, the cost of producing there are cutting into the profit margins. This is causing Wall Street to re-think those one-sided deals that were made in its heady stampede for the profits delivered by cheap labor and lax or non-existent environmental standards. In that context, tariffs may protect profit margins, but the won't protect jobs nor earning power nor the environment so long as we have an administration that has no respect for organized labor and prides itself on dismantling envioronmental protections.
6
"WTO, whose agenda is the facilitation of cross-trade business by multi-national corporations while neglecting every aspect of environmental conditions and labor rights". Of course. And who lead that? USA.
1
Erasmus, yes, Reagan and Thatcher probably did more than anybody in the 20th century to bring this about.
However I will point out that America's labor and environmental laws, as much as they can be improved, are vastly better than what you will find in places like Bangladesh and Philippines. Of course, American capital, with the help of the WTO, is perfectly happy to outsource their production to those countries for exactly that reason, to get around American "restrictions" and "pesky regulations" on manufacturing.
But Americans of the Left voiced strong if impotent resistance to the creation of WTO rules that facilitate this abuse. That was before Bill Clinton. He changed everything when he allied himself with Wall Street in order to shift power back from Bush the First to the Democrats.
1
I am getting the impression that Trump thinks America was greatest prior to the Monroe Doctrine, League of Nations, United Nations, NATO, or, yes, the WTO. Apparently MAGA is about taking the country back to a time when it was poor, of little influence in the world, and had dim prospects for paying its bills or enforcing its laws. The only exception to that trip through the way-back machine is Trump’s desire to have a military replete with big, shiny (and expensive) weapons that he can use as parade props before starting catastrophic wars without strategies for victory or exit.
Or maybe he's just a crook who doesn't think twice about violating laws, treaties, contracts, agreements, and promises. Yeah, I suppose that explains it.
34
For me, it seems Trump likes the time after the WWII, USA was powerful and impose his rules. Mostly.
1
That was when the United States proudly hosted the United Nations, led NATO, and regarded Russia and the Soviet Union as a dangerous and immoral rival on a world stage we were striving to dominate. Trump has very different ideas, especially when it comes to pleasing the president of Russia.
3
"China would gain access to global markets for its wares, while the rest of the planet would gain entry to China.
Officials and diplomats now concede that the notion that inclusion in the global trading body would encourage China to embrace liberal values is a failure."
If PR China had embraced Rule of Law instead of rule by law as flexibly interpreted. Then the recent pronouncement of "New Path to Development" would make sense
But roping the whale to rise up out of the water and start skiing is one thing. Expecting the whale to keep on pulling while attaching your fourth cousin three times removed in a worldwide long line behind you won't work. The whale will thrash and break the rope or tire and dive. Taking you with it or at the least causing considerable problems.
Close cropping has never worked in agriculture but economically it has so far for the PRC in relation to the USA. The soil built up by generations of labor is played out and without crop rotation or time the bumper harvests are over.
4
Or both!
The claim that trade wars are easy to win has no history. For steel and aluminum USERS the prices just went up. Many times more workers have jobs that consume those raw materials. Domestic raw material prices rise. We need the imports even though we have domestic production. Our own domestic prices will rise to meet the tariffs and we still import a lot. Consumers at the end of the day get a tax increase. There is no one sided trade war. Any other country impacted would respond. This becomes a nuclear trade war. It spreads at the speed of the stock markets around the globe.
The unfair wages in poor countries won't be reversed with a trade war.
7
That depends on how you view victory, and I really don't care about wages or conditions in other countries, that is their business not mine.
4
When, under the sham excuse of "freedom of choice", your own Tennessee state government implemented so-called "right to work" legislation which all it has proven to do in other states with similar legislation is systematically dismantle unions and drive down incomes, it seems they don't care about YOUR wages and conditions either, only their "corporate masters" profits.
10
What will the Republican excuse be when they regret allowing this rogue of a man to stay in power, benefiting no one (including the President who needs to be saved from himself). They are going down with a sinking ship. One thing they can't say is they didn't see it coming. What a tragedy on the American people.
11
As a moderate I agree with Mr. Trump about very little, however I applaud his moves to require that China engage in "fair" trade and stop stealing our intellectual property. The argument that the Chinese walk barefoot and live in huts and thus are allowed to steal US property hasn't held water for a very long time. The US needs to stop acting like a frog in boiling water quickly, before we discover its too late to stop the carnage.
Equally troubling is the existential threat posed to every American life due to Chinese support of No. Korea - truly shameful behavior from a country that owes virtually everything to the US which has hollowed out so much of its manufacturing base and moved it to China.
16
And, let me guess, you are all for the existential threat posed to Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, etc. by the United States giving nuclear weapons and billions of dollars per year in conventional military aid to Israel and vetoing multiple U.N. actions every time the rest of the world finds Israel to be guilty of war crimes and human rights violations.
We can't be the kettle calling the pot black. If we want fairness, it's a two way street, and no one plays unfair like the good old us of a.
I agree with Trumps negotiating tactic with Chinese. Mighty hard to compete in wages between our 2 country's.
9
Is it not true that wages in China are rising and consequently manufacturing is moving to Vietnam and Cambodia?
3
Did Nytimes miss the grievances aired by many countries over a decade over China’s practices? WTO was found ineffective in controlling China. Do you have to oppose everything that Trump does or just based on the merits!!!
12
Trump is an idiot for the ages BUT maybe some good can come out of this. One of the great things about our system is that with each new administration, a new angle can be taken on the issues that vex our country. As such we are ever mutable. I would argue that China has made the WTO irrelevant by basically being a giant communist monopoly that manufactures stuff. You can’t compete when you are the only one playing by the rules. We’ve turned a blind eye for too long and it’s time somebody shook things up a bit.
That said it will all probably come back to bite us as Trump has alienated our allies and any face-off against China would be much more successful with Europe, Japan, Australia, India and South Korea on board.
8
One thing a strong, stable economy needs is stable leadership. Now we have no stability. A lunatic at the helm. No wonder the stock market is tanking.
17
The WTO was already irrelevant.
5
There once was a global cartel
That ruled how to buy and to sell.
But Trump and Jinping
Have stepped in the ring
To spar, sending world trade to hell.
6
It is quite funny that the same liberals who were protesting the WTO years ago suddenly love the WTO because Trump is against it. Your bias is showing.
13
Opposing Trump’s decision to ignore treaties, agreements, and laws that he does not like does not equate with support for all of those treaties, agreements, and laws. The point is, he is not king. He needs to live within the rules and laws of the country unless he completes the process of justly changing or terminating the laws and agreements binding upon our country.
7
Congress,
How much more proof do you need before you honor your sworn duty to the United States? Please stop this madman. Impeachment of Donald Trump is the right and just thing to do, and you know it. Preserve the nation, for heaven's sake!
4
For what??? Doing what he promised to do within his authority?
4
A Madman? Here are just a few of his accomplishments to Preserve this Nation:
- Passage of the tax reform bill providing $5.5 billion in cuts and repealing the Obamacare mandate.
- Increase of the GDP above 3 percent.
- Creation of 1.7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to 4.1 percent.
- Signed an Executive Order demanding that two regulations be killed for every new one creates. He beat that big and cut 16 rules and regulations for every one created, saving $8.1 billion.
- Made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
- Saw the Dow Jones reach record highs.
- A rebound in economic confidence to a 17-year high.
- Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy that blocks some $9 billion in foreign aid being used for abortions.
2
Hey marvelous, you really kowns who to read? You understand things? You beliave a iliterata bolo really undesrtand global economy and finances? Think about it when you try to buy, next month, a new, for example, a Iphone. Certainly it will more expensive. And don't put the blame on Apple, or the chineses. It's all Trump actions.
I Forget, I, probably, vote for Trump....
Didn't China make the WTO irrelevant years ago?
9
I guarantee that neither the Trumpists nor the self-styled progressives who're screaming about NAFTA and the WTO and TPP can name anything SPECIFIC that's the matter with them. Or even describe their major provisions accurately.
Specific, mind you. Gimme chapter and verse. Skip the "negotiated in secret," junk, and tell me specifc provisions, specific problems they cause, and specific remedies.
There's not a chance, any more than there is that one in fifty devotees of the Way of St. Bernie can tell ya what the diff between a single-payer health insurance system and a universal health system is, or even so much as what "PPACA," means.
4
The simple fact is that Trump does not believe in cooperation and a rule of law in international trade. He sees trade as a game with winners and losers. He believes that the US has the absolute trump card due to its economic size and power and he will use this to force other countries to submit to his will to give the US preferred status in international trade. Of course this destroys the basic purpose of the WTO to promote fair trade between countries and cooperation between all countries.
13
Most trade does have winners and losers. We get cheap stuff, they get jobs and economic activity that we need.
2
A sense of fairness and understanding the value of cooperation are two values that tRump is without. The Zero-Sum Game is his speciality.
WTO's goal along with NAFTA (intl bankers, multi-natl companies, dictators, etc) is to promote America's weakness and entrance into a 3rd world economy. Has that not been our course since the creation of these un-elected organizations? Yes!
There are many instances in history when a single individual was able to bring about enormous harm to the world. In all such cases, people passively watched and suffered until it was too late. In most recent memory the suffering brought about by a single individual was immeasurable - by some estimates, WWII cost the lives of over 80 million people. We are creeping, slowly but surely, into a situation where a single individual, whose moral turpitude and egotism appear to have no boundaries, can harness the power to decide our collective destiny. When the time comes, we will all be responsible, even those who did not directly contribute to the rise of the dictator. We will be responsible because we are all, especially the Press, chained by civic cowardice and timidity. Sheer, pure, distilled Evil pours out of the White House, and all we can do is watch. May Zeus take pity on this nation.
40
I understand your sentiments, but when you write about moral standards and then invoke Zeus it seems that you sabotage your case. Remember Europa? Trump has not transgressed the standards of Zeus, but rather those of the true God, Yahweh.
You are 100% correct! Thank Heavens we were able to replace Obama and Hilllary with Trump before the Evil entirely overcame America!
This country needs to dramatically curtail the power of the presidency.
12
I have no doubt that China plays hardball on economic and all other issues. So do the U.S. and its partners. Even industrial espionage is not a Chinese monopoly. A few years ago the CIA was caught red-handed spying on Petrobras and others. I am not defending China but throwing a temper tantrum does not produce a solution.
9
This isn't a temper tantrum, its an American President protecting America against dictatorial governments who have beat us to death by taking American jobs - with the help of the previous 3 American presidents.
1
China gained WTO status in 2001 as a developing country, and it was granted special rights to impose high tariffs as a developing country. China is now the second largest economy in the world, its GDP has grown four times since 2001. China still claims developing country status, and the WTO permits this to continue.
39
WTO creators goal is to create a 3rd world country here in America where we are weak and subject to world gov't.
1
Back in the 90's we progressives out here in Oregon strongly objected to the U.S. being part of NAFTA and the WTO. As much as i can't stand Trump, thinking he's an insane man, he's right on one thing: our unfair trade treaties with other countries. The WTO and NAFTA should never had been signed and implemented. NEVER. Whether he's doing the right thing , right now is another matter. I think it's all too little too late. But shame on those sellout centrists Democrats(I mean Republicans in Dems clothing) and the multi-national corporation-supporting Republicans. All of that money can turn a reasonable person into a maniac. Oh Bernie Sanders, where are you?
26
GATT and WTO have made a groundbreaking job in liberalising trade for all countries and spreading wealth over the world. They are stilling that. This process is under democratic control for the most part making sure that many can benefit. Unfortunately the US has given most influence over the process to the corporations, led by the US Chamber of Commerce. Democrats have for the most part been fighting for the majority of the people, and voted against NAFTA and recent bilateral trade treaties of the US. Free trade has been a blessing for most people and continues to be so but it should be more controlled by the democratic process.
8
And the worst thing Hillary Clnton did was trash TPP: unlike some "progressives," and Donald Trump, she knew better.
I sure wish what passes for lefties these days would read themselves some Marx. It is inherent in the nature of capitalism to expand abroad and at home, which is why needs regulation.
Only idiots think capitalism is going anywhere anytime soon, and if it did, they sure wouldn't want to be around for the consequencs.
3
Disregard anyone who uses the perjorative word "Dems." They are simply creeps and propagandists unless they are also willing to call the GOP and the wannabe in charge "Cons."
8
Little Donnie is a very impetuous, impatient boy. The rule of law - domestic, foreign or Constitutional - is merely an unnecessary inconvenience, an impediment to his 'strong leadership.'
This is what you get when the ostensible 'President' and so-called 'leader of the free world' is an overgrown spoiled brat with the emotional maturity of an incorrigibly ill-behaved 11 year old boy, and the intellectual curiosity of a garden slug.
No offense meant to innocent, defenseless garden slugs, by the way.
25
Trump's disdain for the WTO is just one more example of how he seizes on some obvious shortcoming, but blows it up in ways that ultimately would create even more problems.
Yes, the WTO has a "dispute settlement process," but it is a convoluted process that can take years as WTO ambassadors, consultants and staff negotiate at a pace that would make snails seem to be speedsters.
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/disp_settlement_cbt_e/c6s1p...
Unfortunately, this article is one of the few reports on WTO relevance to Trump's retreat to Mercantilism. While Trump's economic advisors have been trashing sensible trade policies, the WTO seems to be hiding under a rock, much like too many bloated UN agencies that continue to fiddle while the problems they are supposed to address are going up in flames.
4
Methinks someone will find that trade wars are NOT so easy to "win".... in fact there are seldom ANY true "winners" when any type of wars get started for fun and profit or spite and ennui!! The world trade forum is not a "zero sum game" where there are only win-lose situations and resources are static & limited: a GOOD trade agreement produces true "win-win" increases in trade and decreases in tarriff barriers between nations, benefiting many people on BOTH sides. Pity Mr. "Art of the Deal" doesn't realize this: many will suffer because of his willful ignorance.
9
Again, Trump has gone back on another US agreement. Again discredited the US's integrity and resolve in the eyes of the world.
9
bad agreements(WTO, NAFTA). Never should have been signed. Time to bail out. Though whether what Trump is doing is good , I don't know.
5
It doesn't work. China ignores the rulings. They mandate that US companies transfer technology or partner with Chinese companies to sell in China. Back in the day when software was a big deak they pirated everything.
We realize Trump is a fool ,but don't let your justified distrust of Trump make you blind to what is obvious. We are already in a trade war, and our economy and business interests is losing.
10
Our economy and business interests are doing just fine.
1
Doing just fine for some Americans. We and the EU have been taken advantage of. Some Americans have not done well at all. They lost big and they voted for change...many of them holding there nose when they did. Desperate!
1
Trump isn't satisfied with just messing up the US economy. The world is his oyster!
I keep wondering what the Trump boys are, and will be buying and selling, during this economic upheaval.
6
NAFTA , WTO for years have messed up our economy. Look around. The greatest wage and wealth disparity ever since those treaties took hold. You might do your homework about the subject first, please.
9
I really despise those who toss the "do you homework" nonsense. You've repeated your displeasure of NAFTA and WTO, and have offered no objective or persuasive arguments for your position. Please, stop.
5
Well, there goes the stock market.
Is it morally wrong to have a Schadenfreude moment over all of those rich people who were willing to overlook the racism, misogyny, racketeering fraud, compulsive lying, adultery, avarice, mocking the disabled, encouraging violence, and general moral turpitude for the sake of their stock portfolios?
9
it was do a correction long ago. A fake stock market growth similar to the one that happened before the 2008 meltdown.
5
Curious how that organization is headquartered in the isolationist country but they probably like the Swiss jobs it provides. Maybe they'd like the UN too, please!
2
RH seems to know very little about Switzerland.
4
Perfect!!!!
The WTO has been a joke since China was admitted. They have no discernible legal system. The Chinese are lawless predators in tailored suits. But it is the greed of America's corpprate elite that handed America's jobs and technological leadership to these predators; and, it is the greed of America's masses to own ever more things without limit that has been the driving force. We didn't have to be the way we are. We as a society have paid, and will continue to pay, the wages of our avaricious sin. I am a baby boomer who has watched the transformation of American society, and it is has been a sickening journey.
46
More damaging distractions. Traitor Trump undermines national interest out of self interest, again. It will be a long time before American standing in the world recovers (if it recovers at all). Leader of the free world? Not anymore. Pariah due to Trump is more like it.
This cancer of a president can't leave soon enough.
9
the real traitors were the presidents who lobbied for both NAFTA and WTO(Bush Sr. and Clinton) . What's going on now should have happened 20 -plus years ago, not today. It's too little, too late. We made our bed back then....
6
Protectionism masked as patriotism is a lie that only a slime like Trump would make out of self interest. In the process he plays on the ignorance of people who hope for a return to a time that is gone and won't come back.
Unwinding our standing in international trade will harm us badly.
5
This isn't the World Trade Organization's fault. It's just that, like all regulatory bodies, it regulates Trump in the wrong way.
3
When did the Congress abnegate its constitutional duty to regulate commerce?
4
Please remember that all treaties made by the United States become the supreme Law of the Land. U S Constitution, Article VI.
1
The US is a big enough player to negotiate trade with countries individually. The WTO doesn't help US trade in any way.
7
Turning the trade system into a personal money laundry is not policy.
8
Isn’t it quite possible, knowing what we now know and will eventually discover, that Putin is directing Trump’s actions in regards to the world stage? I wouldn’t rule it out.
9
trumps' mind was made up long ago, even before Putin took center stage. I doubt Putin has anything to do with it. Conspiracy theories anyone? How about scientists are hiding evidence that the Earth is flat?
1
More and more people and institutions are realizing that they just need to hunker down until Trump is either impeached or ends his term. This period will be viewed as a strange and destructive history lesson.
9
Maybe this is a wake up call for all the Red State Farmers.
Farmers already voiced their complaints because China buys vast quantities of soybeans and coarse grains from the US. Farmers are starting to realize that China has options and will look to buy these commodities from other countries.
It seems the sanctions imposed by Trump will hurt the poor, the disadvantaged and the low income people the hardest.
Most of the aforementioned Americans voted for Trump in the false believe that Trump he will be the one who will improve their lives. They surely by now must have awakened and have regrets and realize that they were bamboozled by Trump and his ilk
23
just what other countries? No other country produces grains in the vast amounts like we do. Russia pales in comparison, and everyone else can't get their argriculture potential to compete on a level anywhere near ours.
5
You would thinks so, but don't count on it.
1
American exceptionalism ratchets up one more notch.
WORLD Trade Organization that doesn't = AMERICAN Trade Organization?
Not for us!
3
Institutions that have failed us are falling at a remarkable rate, which is precisely as it should be.
Revolutions are like that.
The stunning ascent of China over the past 25 years has been the most important economic event in history and puts the following incredibly understated quotes in historical context:
"Diplomats and trade organization officials acknowledge that the aggressive posture of the United States is in part an outgrowth of a substantial failure by the W.T.O. to update its rules to contend with China’s rise."
"...Officials and diplomats now concede that the notion that inclusion in the global trading body would encourage China to embrace liberal values is a failure."
The WTO, not China, is one of the principal root causes of the failure of globalization, which is destabilizing the developed world.
China's the only country that implemented globalization in a way that was in the sustainable long-term interest of its citizens. The governments of the developed world did not. Pause a moment to process that.
China played its hand brilliantly, and I'm sure even they regret just how incompetent their "partners" were, when they see the instability of the world growing exponentially, which is simply not good for business. For anybody. They just kept asking for more and more, until somebody told them to stop. Nobody at the WTO did. So they kept taking. Why would they do otherwise?
The WTO's failure is epochal, and has brought the world to the edge of an abyss.
21
I don't have to pause a moment. The Chinese were smart. They refused to be 'colonized' by us or anybody else. China refused to obediently play the role of a third world country Western powers could indefinitely exploit until the people finally wised up and kicked out the Colonial power.
When we started the march toward globalization, I fretted that we were setting ourselves up to become a third world country. The way Trump has decided to stop the process will do nothing except accelerate it.
I don't agree that blame should be laid entirely at the door of the WTO. Each nation manages its own wealth. Our national wealth, total and per capita, has increased steadily with globalization. Nations can spread the wealth around so all citizens benefit, or they can let their 'mover and shaker' billionaires keep it all at the expense of workers and society. Those decisions have little to do with the WTO.
Also, I like to remind people, the Chinese did not abduct Steve Jobs and force him to make his iPhones in China.
27
CF, you nailed it. The world did not force the United States to squander its considerable resources, and to neglect education, infrastructure, housing, health care, child care, our epidemic gun violence and drug abuse - while implementing tax policies that exacerbate the pernicious concentration of wealth in the hands of the few and demonstrably do not result in increased investment or any substantial 'trickle down' benefits for 99% of us.
China did not force us to spend trillions of dollars and to destroy millions of lives blowing up the Middle East, any more than it forced us to engage in the barbarism and waste that was Vietnam.
Nobody forced millions of Americans to empower the political party whose stated goal is to strangle and dismantle our government, despite the readily observable results of its policies.
Millions of Americans glued to their cable 'news,' staring at those glowing little Made in China stupidphones as they walk into traffic, drive their cars, even sit on the toilet. Americans who have chosen to rail at scapegoats rather than confront and rationally address our shortcomings and make good use of our considerable resources and wealth. Millions in debt up to their ears to buy the latest gizmos from China, huge gas guzzling SUVs and 'luxury trucks' they neither need nor can afford.
We elected a government that says the solution to gun violence is more guns. Health care? Sure, if you can pay for it. That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
34
American and European multi-national corporations enabled China's ascent these past 25 years. Their greed to make more profits on the backs of American and European workers has led us to this point in time of crisis. Chinese leaders back in the early 90's knew our Achilles heel: ravenous desire for profits, wealth= greed.
5
Lets throw the world into economic chaos, then wonder why no one wants to do business with us.
Way to go Donny boy.
6
“These measures tend to exacerbate nationalistic sentiments. They tend to exacerbate intolerance.” This is an interesting and revealing statement: Mr. Azevedo confirms the mission of the WTO is propagation of Liberal Economics. China abiding by Liberal rules!? That was and is never going to happen. And in the meantime succeeding US administrations have presided over the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world l, and in the process reduced huge swathes of US citizens to a marginalized level of economic well-being and socio-political irrelevance. Enough.
8
It’s about time someone called the WTO on the carpet. They have not been unbiased, or fair, hence really have not upheld their own tenets. They have enabled China for years. Just because past presidents haven’t done anything about it does not mean that should continue to be the case. Seems the WTO needs a bit of a shake up and an overhaul, or, irrelevance. If it takes Trump, a proverbial ‘bull in a china closet’ to elicit some change that’s not a bad thing.
21
Trump has discovered another level he can unilaterally pull-- application of tariffs. No need to negotiate with pesky conscience addled senators and congressmen, or pander to voters. Just chop away and bask in the limelight.
If the wheels fall off, start an undeclared war. Historically that rallies the uneducated mob and sidelines memories of previous-- or ongoing-- blunders. An undeclared war would also justify vastly increasing sums of money doled out to compliant districts.
Heck, POTUS will probably tweet he created the foregoing playbook, having failed to learn history.
6
It's like he's hell bent on destroying the world.
6
Ask not what the World Trade Organization does for you, ask what destroying the WTO will do for Donald Trump. The question is who will pay for Mr. Trump's ever-expanding wealth, the walls he builds, the environment he destroys, the wars he starts, or the economies he steals from.
6
NYT "Share your thoughts"
Thinking doesn't seem to have any effect on the current royal court and it's golfing king.
I'm getting rather tired of being asked for thoughts, as though expressing them would somehow make shared horror, better than having individual private horror.
7
The WTO is irrelevant only if it takes no action as a result of Trump's tariffs. Kick the US out!
6
Yes please do. We need to be pushing fair trade not the "free" trade the WTO was designed to propagate.
China's theft of its industrial competitors' intellectual property, including ours, is long-standing, profound and shameless. Still we should avoid the indulgence of believing ourselves to be without shame in this regard.
This said, perhaps we might serve our own interests better by taking the trouble of some quiet negotiation before slamming the ax down in an empty gesture of mindless "strength." I guess that President Trump is smart because he endlessly reminds us of it, but smart leaders seek solutions before picking fights.
7
In the 19th century the U.S. was a major thief of intellectual property, often by luring experts from Britain to immigrate with their specialized knowledge. This is one way we gained economic importance.
2
You tell 'em, Donny! Trade wars, military wars and an authoritarian right turn in our government; it's the only way to go! The boss Vlad (and Senate Republicans) will be very pleased, indeed.
9
I hope someone is starting to grind out the apologies we'll need to issue the world after the "Buffoon in Chief" and his sad Clown-Car" Administration are removed from office.
I am sure we'll never be able to restore the world's confidence to the levels we had only a year and a half ago that we're losing hourly, but we have to start somewhere as it is clear the current path toward isolationism and rejection of all global cooperation is a blind alley we're being led down by a failed Flim Flam Scam Grifter.
Maybe we can start with something like: "To the World, we're truly sorry for the wreckage we've inflicted on You, and to show we're working to regain your trust and cooperation, we are not only rescinding all trade war efforts, and asking to rejoin You in the Paris Accord, but we are also disbanding the Electoral College, the cause of all this mess.
Please Forgive Us.
Sincerely,
The Rational 3/4's of the United States Population"
37
Peter - you obviously think too highly of yourself to presume to speak for your made-up group of Americans.
Your dislike of the Electoral College is totally unfounded. You will never change the Presidential Election format of state voters electing Electoral College representatives to elect the President. The States election format is the problem.
If more States' Presidential election formats were not all-or-nothing for Presidential Electoral College representatives, the popular vote might mean something. You can work within your state to establish the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact or you can just complain because your vote actually meant nothing.
4
Ah, so preparing the Apology is the correct course of action then.
Cool! Thanks! Glad you approve
2
count us in ....
1
It might be good to read the article, which is hardly complmentary to the WTO or to China, before bellowing about how Trump is done come to save us from them lib'ruls and they globalistic partners in sinister crimes against Amurrica.
3
Only the UN is more irrelevant.
3
Jakob, you are utterly ignorant of the many important activities of the UN. Shame on you. Try learning what it does.
1
2018/11/06 - the mid-term elections
Stump Trump - vote !
17
The US commerce leaders moved their factories to China starting in the 1980s. They tossed out the workers, and they made big profits in the short term. Now these people are complaining about how China has treated them. This is very much too late.
70
Trump's world is exactly as wide as a television screen. He cares absolutely nothing about the real effects of his recklessness on real people, on the real future, or on his real country. This is just display for him.
This could land hardest on the Red State voters most passionately committed to him. They need to experience this as something real in their lives, households, communities and wallets. If the pain finally breaks their trances, and severs the connection between Trump's self-mythology and theirs, then the show's over. Trump might make them do what the Democrats can't: wake up.
8
The WTO has been irrelevant for a long time. That might be giving trump a bit more credit than he deserves....
2
Trump, the never ending story of chaos, moves along like there’s no tomorrow. Trump has no idea what the WTO is because in his world it doesn’t exist, and soon our world will cease to exist if we don’t move quickly to restore order and sanity. It will be up to “we the people” since Congress has proven time and again is not up to the task. November cannot come soon enough. If we are lucky, we will not see American blood in the streets before “we the people” get to speak and correct the nightmare that threatens to engulf the world once Bolton is firmly in place as head of the NSA.
4
Philip, Bolton will not be head of the NSA. He will be "National Security Advisor", which is a separate job.
1
The WTO was relevant? When? Maybe to the conference jet-setting five star hotel staying officials. How many of those conferences took place in Erie Pennsylvania or Hull? Nothing to be done about that, sorry it’s the market. Efficiency, you know.
My suggestion is to turn the WTO HQ into housing for Syrian refugees. A few hundred thousand families would go a short way to compensate for all the damage the institution has thrust on the world.
12
Trump is inappropriate and considers himself above the rules. But in a rational and orderly world even the US must abide by W.T.O. rules and it is in America's interests
to do so and minimize economic disorder and uncertainty that will harm the American economy and average worker greatly.
It is time to realize that Trump is unfit and unqualified to hold this office and must be impeached and thoroughly
investigated for criminal activities.
I fear he will irreparable harm America and its future.
11
Let's just hand over to China all of our technology, research and development, security and military secrets and other intellectual property and call it a day.
Right?
10
An alternative to trump’s tarrifs could be to closely examine all pending complaints the US has that have been sent to WTO, and those which have been dithered over long enough, should be withdrawn and settled by face to face negotiations or actions.
1
Did he even knew it existed, or if it did what the usual protocol was?
I imagine he just did what he did assuming, as he does, that he can.
3
"But diplomats in Geneva said the damage to the global trading system went beyond the impact on metals, dealing a blow to the foundations of the W.T.O."
This is exactly Mr. Trump's intent. Then he can be the negotiator he often claims he is. Unfortunately, it is his intent to disrupt and sow chaos everywhere he can no matter the outcome. Vote in 2018 and 2020 and boycott Republicans.
42
America can stand on it's own merit without a global economy. A trad war will only hurt the WTO not Americans.
9
Impressively ignorant of the reality of today's intertwined 2018 global economy, Bill.
Good luck removing your head from the sand.
64
Trade, by definition works with 2 countries.
How will the USA trade with restrictions on other countries, and not expect retaliatory responses from the other trading sides?
24
And Easter's coming up soon, too. I take it you're prepared for the advent of the Magical Bunny.
13
This is a fundamental breach of the rules of the e WTO, why should they not move to expel the US. Trump makes all these ridiculous claims on trade, either lies or statements made with reckless disregard for the truth, let them be tested in an adversarial proceeding where the truth matters, and where at stake is the continued membership of the US in the WTO. This might focus the minds of US voters as well. It would be a good thing.
11
I would really doubt Trump even knows what the World Trade Organization is or what it does.
107
Who really does?
The WTO is a highly questionable 'organization'.
As is the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
12
Trump really doesn't care what the WTO is or does. He is blinded by the nonsense promoted by his so-called trade advisors, Navarro, Ross and Lighthizer.
But the bottom line is that for all of the good intentions of the WTO, it also serves as the platform for a trade circular firing squad. Since the WTO does not have enforcement authority, all it can do is authorize countries to retaliate if disputes cannot be resolved.
2
Nor do most people in this world. The WTO is an ineffective organization. They are becoming increasingly irrelevant to all countries, not just the US. Trump says dumb things, does dumb things and is a boor. But, he is absolutely right to ignore the WTO.
4
OH we have a propensity of blaming Trump for everything. ( I guess he has replaced President George W Bush for us liberals. )
We do not blame Russia and China for forcing our tech companies to share their trade secrets including all the bignames as a "price" for trading in China and Russia . We forgot how China got their first military Drone that crashed on Iran a few years back . We are way to short memory. In spite of all the short comings of President Trump .
He is right here for the second time only as the president to really point fingers at China for flooding the western markets and Asian countries like India and others with slave labor built shoes and everything with really poorer tags and totally strangling the world trading rules aka WTO.
21
Next stop UN - might as well dismantle collaboration as the world knows it, while wiping out US institutions at the same time.
15
You're right.
Didn't Trump already mention the UN already, regarding the costs to the USA of maintaining the the institution in the USA? Don't worry, when he clears his brain of the damages he's doing now to other instutions, both here and abroad, he'll come back to the UN!
3
hon. colin powell used the u.n. forum to put on his dog and pony show before we destroyed Iraq. didn't the u.n. give us the fig leaf for Libya as well?
the u.s. didn't get its way in Ukraine and Syria. oh well, you cant fool all of the people all of the time.
This is all about posturing and projecting "strength." Who cares about the consequences.
13
“If the member countries simply begin to take matters into their own hands, disregarding all these principles, all these concepts, we may be in a situation where the global economic environment could deteriorate very fast,” said Roberto Azevêdo said, Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
“These measures tend to exacerbate nationalistic sentiments. They tend to exacerbate intolerance.”
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Donald Trump's never-ending Whites R Us political campaign of fear, loathing, intolerance, ignorance and inevitable destruction continues unabated.
Vote on November 6 2018.
And donate to any of these worthy voter registration organizations to help overthrow this right-wing coup d'etat:
https://www.rockthevote.org/donate/
https://www.usvotefoundation.org/donate
https://www.voterparticipation.org/support-our-work/donate-to-vpc/
https://voteriders.salsalabs.org/donate/index.html
Record voter turnout is the way out of this Trumpian nightmare on November 6 2018.
85
thank you socrates for beating this drum... register to vote!
1
And about time too. All WTO ever do was sit and watch America’s factories close down and move offshore. One would not be amiss to suspect WTO is on the side of China.
9
The WTO has no jurisdiction over US companies deciding to outsource and leave US factories empty and US people jobless so they can make more profit for themselves. The correct target is US companies who outsource.
13
How very strange, then, that we've so often won when we take cases to the WTO.
All part of the cunning plan, I take it, as the sinister machinations of the Globalist Cabal of...Them goes on apace.
8