Trump's budding trade war has reached the World Trade Organization (WTO) where China and other countries have filed complaints over Trump's unilateral decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum and many other things.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea addressed the complaints for the first time on Friday and I would describe his remarks as pure gaslighting.
Although everything was fine or at least normal before Trump took office, Shea says China is the real threat to global trade.
China’s “trade-distorting policies” represent a “threat to the international trading system,” Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Dennis Shea said in Geneva on Friday during his first public comments on the matter. China’s technology transfer policies harm every WTO member and industry that “relies on technology for maintaining competitiveness in world markets.”
Wait for it...
“If the WTO is seen as a shield protecting those members that choose to adopt policies that can be shown to undermine the fairness and balance of the international trading system then the WTO and the international trading system will lose all credibility and support among our citizens,” Shea said.
The Trump regime is simultaneously arguing that China is responsible for disrupting global trade while also vaguely threatening to withdraw from the World Trade Organization and disrupt global trade.
The Trump regime is doing this because they know they're going to lose but, don't be fooled, the WTO isn't rigged against us. The United States has won 91 percent of the complaints we've filed against other nations at the WTO since 1995.
The Trump regime didn't even file complaints about China's trade practices or those of other nations at the WTO. Trump made the decision that he wanted to start a trade war and the White House worked backward from that to find an excuse for it.
We can only guess what Trump will do when the WTO rules against him, but I expect the worst.