Trump escalates his threats to blow up trade deals: 'I would withdraw from the WTO'

Gregory Korte | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump again threatens to get involved in DOJ President Donald Trump is once again threatening to intervene in the Justice Department if they fail to take the actions he's demanding. At a rally in Indiana, Trump also continued his attacks on democrats and the media. (Aug. 30)

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump threatened to upend the rules of global trade on Thursday, saying he would pull out of the World Trade Organization unless it adopts rules more favorable to the United States.

“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” Trump told Bloomberg News.

Trump long has been frustrated with the WTO, which sets the standards and rules that govern other international trade agreements and provides a forum for resolving disputes. He specifically wants the Geneva-based body to take a tougher stance on China's steel dumping and theft of U.S. intellectual property.

But Trump's remark Thursday marks his most explicit threat to withdraw from the WTO yet.

Just last month, he expressed a desire to work with other countries to reform the WTO from within the organization. "WTO has treated the United States very badly, and I hope they change their ways," he said then. "And we're not planning anything now, but if they don't treat us properly, we will be doing something."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders later explained that while the president is frustrated by the organization, "that is not accurate that the U.S. is leaving the WTO."

Congress voted in 1994 to join the WTO, which replaced an earlier post-World War II pact called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. So it's unclear what power Trump would have to pull out of the WTO without congressional approval.

The threat comes amid tense negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump wants to replace with a new agreement with Mexico and Canada.

Trump said this week the United States and Mexico had reached a new bilateral trade deal, noting it would be called the United States-Mexico trade agreement and would replace NAFTA, which he said had “bad connotations” for the United States.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Canadian negotiators continue meeting to overhaul NAFTA.

“We continue to be encouraged by the constructive atmosphere that I think both countries are bringing to the table," Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Thursday after leaving a meeting with U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer.

Freeland, who is leading Canada’s delegation in the talks with U.S. officials, joined with other top Canadian officials to brief leaders of the country’s provinces and territories on the status of trade negotiations.

Among those on the call were Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton.

The Associated Press contributed.