Axios certainly has the best intro to today's bombshell development: "Internationalists have always dreamed of a court with jurisdiction over all the countries of the world. In 1995, the World Trade Organization was created - allowing the world's countries to press claims against one another for the first time."
It won't survive the Trump presidency as on Tuesday his administration has effectively brought it to an end, neutering its ability to intervene in trade wars, having blocked all new appointments to its dispute-resolution court.
Donald "Tariff Man" Trump can now impose whatever tariffs he likes, without fear that the WTO might find them to be illegal.
There's widespread perception that the WTO has been rendered obsolete until it undertakes major reforms - for example criticisms that it frequently fails to abide by its own rules, has an inconsistent appeals mechanism, and its rules fail to account for state-controlled enterprises.
Viewed as among the foremost hindrances to Trump's "America First" program, he's already long bulldozed past WTO rules amid the trade war with China, including punitive levies on Chinese goods, and imposing metal tariffs on allies like Europe, Canada and Japan.
China is in preliminary talks to support the European Union's backup plan for settling international trade disputes as President Donald Trump's administration gets closer to scuttling the World Trade Organization's role in refereeing cross-border commerce.
"The WTO is facing its deepest crisis since its creation," Phil Hogan, the European trade commissioner, told members of the European Parliament this year.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/china-mulls-eu-trade-dispute-plan-b-tariff-man-trump-delivers-wto-knockout-punch
It won't survive the Trump presidency as on Tuesday his administration has effectively brought it to an end, neutering its ability to intervene in trade wars, having blocked all new appointments to its dispute-resolution court.
Donald "Tariff Man" Trump can now impose whatever tariffs he likes, without fear that the WTO might find them to be illegal.
There's widespread perception that the WTO has been rendered obsolete until it undertakes major reforms - for example criticisms that it frequently fails to abide by its own rules, has an inconsistent appeals mechanism, and its rules fail to account for state-controlled enterprises.
Viewed as among the foremost hindrances to Trump's "America First" program, he's already long bulldozed past WTO rules amid the trade war with China, including punitive levies on Chinese goods, and imposing metal tariffs on allies like Europe, Canada and Japan.
China is in preliminary talks to support the European Union's backup plan for settling international trade disputes as President Donald Trump's administration gets closer to scuttling the World Trade Organization's role in refereeing cross-border commerce.
"The WTO is facing its deepest crisis since its creation," Phil Hogan, the European trade commissioner, told members of the European Parliament this year.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/china-mulls-eu-trade-dispute-plan-b-tariff-man-trump-delivers-wto-knockout-punch
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