Axios: Exclusive: A leaked Trump bill to blow up the WTO
Axios has obtained a leaked draft of a Trump administration bill — ordered by the president himself — that would declare America’s abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules.
Why it matters: The draft legislation is stunning. The bill essentially provides Trump a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent and international rules be damned.
The details: The bill, titled the "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act," would give Trump unilateral power to ignore the two most basic principles of the WTO and negotiate one-on-one with any country:
1) The "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) principle that countries can't set different tariff rates for different countries outside of free trade agreements;
2) "Bound tariff rates" — the tariff ceilings that each WTO country has already agreed to in previous negotiations.
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WNU Editor: I agree with this assessment .... Report of Trump bill rejecting WTO seen by trade experts as hot air (Reuters).
Hat tip Fred for the above link.
