By Kimberly Ann Elliott
For decades American presidents pursued multilateral trade agreements and supported international institutions that bolstered liberal trade policies around the world because they believed it was in the United States’ interest to do so. Yes, multilateral trade rules and institutions are relatively more beneficial for smaller, less powerful countries that cannot take on the United States or European Union on their own. And, yes, the rules under the World Trade Organization, or WTO, constrain the United States’ freedom of action, as did the predecessor arrangement, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT. Yet U.S. presidents going back to Harry Truman believed that the benefits of the multilateral, rules-based trading system far outweighed the costs.
President Donald Trump, however, does not like constraints—and he does like trade wars. He has long railed against the WTO, wrongly claiming that the United States loses most of its cases and that the system is unfair. He has launched a variety of trade actions without regard to their legality under international rules. The online news site Axios reported that Trump has expressed a desire to withdraw from the WTO in numerous private meetings with advisers.
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