“Trump’s threatened tariffs and other trade barriers could violate WTO rules and bring blowback from other countries in the trade organization. But the agenda signals the Trump administration could simply ignore those complaints.”
As expected, Trump is threatening to pull back from international trade agreements, and has gone further in saying it might ignore the WTO. Choosing not to abide by WTO resolutions or accept its findings in disputes signals a major departure from American trade policy and could have far reaching effects. For example, other countries could decide to walk away also, or directly retaliate against US manufacturers. This seems to me like total arrogance – the Administration assumes that no global organization actually helps the US and the US is always treated unfairly on the world stage. But the WTO has ruled in favor of the US in previous disputes, and the US has used the WTO to register complaints against other countries. Ignoring the TWO could decrease our influence in the world and hurt US businesses.