Exclusive: A leaked Trump bill to blow up the WTO
Jonathan Swan10 mins ago
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Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
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:
"It would be the equivalent of walking away from the WTO and our commitments there without us actually notifying our withdrawal," said a source familiar with the bill.
Behind the scenes: Trump was briefed on this draft in late May, according to sources familiar with the situation. Most officials involved in the bill's drafting — with the notable exception of hardline trade adviser Peter Navarro — think the bill is unrealistic or unworkable. USTR, Commerce and the White House are involved.
White House response: Spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said, "It is no secret that POTUS has had frustrations with the unfair imbalance of tariffs that put the U.S. at a disadvantage. He has asked his team to develop ideas to remedy this situation and create incentives for countries to lower their tariffs. The current system gives the U.S. no leverage and other countries no incentive."
Be smart: Congress is
already concerned with how Trump has been using his trade authorities — just look at recent efforts by
Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Pat Toomey and
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet to roll back the president's steel and aluminum tariffs.
Read the full text of the draft bill (Axios retyped the leaked document to protect our source):
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the U.S. & Russia vs the world???
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