The United States found itself alone against the rest of the world as adjudication to determine the legality of President Donald Trump's contentious anti-free trade policies began at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Once a bulwark of free trade and globalism, the U.S. under an ignorant president has turned into an isolationist mercantilist state bent only on enriching itself at the expense of its trading partners.
Trump has angered U.S. trading partners by imposing unwarranted punitive tariffs against imports of steel and aluminum, which Trump justifies by saying these imports pose a threat to U.S. national security. He's also hit Chinese goods with huge tariffs beginning July over a desire to reduce China's huge trade surplus with the U.S. and to stop China's theft of U.S. intellectual property rights
At the meeting at the WTO on Wednesday, the U.S. faced a bevy of legal disputes over Trump's trade policies. These American trade policies have now entered a formal adjudication phase where the U.S. will have to defend itself against anti-free trade charges from the rest of the world.
In advance of the trade complaints brought against the U.S., Trump last August threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the WTO in the event of any adverse ruling. Long a foe of the WTO, Trump again criticized the international trading group's alleged mistreatment of the United States.
Despite Trump's vitriolic remarks, the U.S. is seeking WTO assistance to cope with retaliatory tariffs imposed by China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and Turkey. These plaintiffs say Trump's metal tariffs are thinly disguised U.S. protectionism.
In July, the U.S. filed five dispute actions with the WTO alleging the retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. were illegal under WTO rules.
The United States and China clashed on Wednesday at a WTO meeting. Both sides accused each other of hypocrisy.
U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea said China is using the WTO to promote "non-market" policies, which distort world markets and lead to massive excess capacity, especially in steel and aluminum.
Shea said the WTO should throw out a lawsuit brought by China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia, and Turkey because WTO rules allowed exceptions for actions taken for national security concerns.
He claims some WTO members have expressed concerns that invoking the national security exception in these circumstances would undermine the international trading system. This is erroneous, and completely backward, according to Shea without explanation.
He said that what threatens the international trading system is China's attempt to use the WTO dispute settlement system to prevent any action by any Member to address its unfair, trade-distorting policies.
In response, China said it was Washington that was flouting the WTO rulebook. A Chinese spokesman said China doesn't want to engage in a blame game. He claims the United States had failed to prove its unfounded claims about China's economy, which it was using to disguise its own violations of the WTO rulebook.
"The statement made by the U.S. reeks of hypocrisy," said the official.
