Donald Trump wants to quit WTO, says report

Washington: US  treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday a report by the Axios news website, that cited sources as saying President Donald Trump wanted the US to withdraw from the WTO, was wrong.

“There’s no breaking news here ... it’s not right,” Mnuchin told Fox Business Network, calling the report “fake news.”

Axios reported earlier on Friday, citing people who were involved in discussions with the president, that Trump frequently told advisers he wanted the United States to quit the WTO, a move with potentially disastrous implications for global commerce.

“This is an exaggeration,” Mnuchin said. “The president has been clear, with us and with others, he has concerns about the WTO, he thinks there’s aspects of it that are not fair, he thinks that China and others have used it to their own advantage, but we are focused on free trade. That’s what we’re focused on - breaking down barriers.”

One person who has discussed the subject with Trump, according to Axios, said the president frequently told advisers: “I don’t know why we’re in it. The WTO is designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States.”

The 164-member WTO is the only international organization that deals with the rules of trade between countries and states its key purpose as opening trade “for the benefit of all.”