The United States believes that the time has come "restart" the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose tariff resolutions are outdated, the US Trade Representative said on Wednesday (17.06.2020).
«Today, the current tariff rulings are outdated and no longer reflect the political decisions of countries and the economic conditions of members."Robert Lighthizer said, according to testimony on Trump's trade agenda to House and Senate committees.
«As a result, many countries with large developed economies maintain very high tariff rates, much higher than those applied by the United States., Dijo.
Donald Trump's administration seeks to "ensure" that tariffs reflect current economic realities "to protect" American exporters and workershe said.
Trump has repeatedly denounced the institution's "unfair" treatment of the United States, particularly in resolving trade disputes.
«The WTO has effectively treated one of the world's freest and most open economies, with a huge trade deficit, as the world's biggest trade abuser.«, Lighthizer said.
«To date, more than 150 cases have been brought against the United States at the WTO, while no other member has faced even a hundred. Worse, up to 90% of these disputes resulted in a report finding the United States at least partially to blame., Dijo.
In January, Trump announced he had begun talks to reform the WTO, the global trade arbiter.
Since 11 December, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) Appeals Tribunal has been closed due to Washington's blocking of judge appointments.
But in mid-April, EU countries gave the green light to the establishment of a temporary appeals court to resolve trade disputes, to circumvent Trump's WTO blockade.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday that Trump's ultimate goal is to roll back tariffs.
«The president always had the idea that tariffs should be reciprocal. If some country charges us x, we shouldn't just charge them a fraction of that. However, his real purpose is to reduce them everywhere., he said on Fox Business.
"The real problem is getting other countries to be less protectionist"«.
Source: AFP
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