Trump's Trade Concerns? WTO Head Says Organization Can Handle It
The World Trade Organization has the tools to handle many of the trade concerns raised by President Trump, Director-General Roberto Azevedo said, seeking to calm worries that the new U.S. administration could usher in a new era of protectionism.
“I heard the U.S. team complaining about unfair trade,” Azevedo said in a Bloomberg Television interview with Mark Barton from Geneva on Feb. 22. “Every single country in the WTO complains about unfair trade. What you do about that is the big question.”
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Azevedo, 59, said he’s waiting for details of the Trump administration’s trade policy before making judgments. Trump last month signed an order to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and plans to open talks to renegotiate Nafta, the 23-year-old deal binding the United States, Canada and Mexico. U.S. lawmakers also are considering a border tax on corporations.
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“In trade, the devil is in the details,” Azevedo said.
Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of Total SA, said Feb. 21 in a Bloomberg television interview that “this trend to have countries around the world thinking that it’s better to be inside their borders” than open to the world “will lead to catastrophe.”
