United Steelworks International (USW) Vice President Tom Conway discussed on a local radio show the trade agenda that the Trump administration recently unveiled to Congress, which aims to punish countries that violate international trade laws, even if that means ignoring unfavorable decisions by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Conway explained the problems unfair trade causes for American manufacturers and workers and outlined the findings of a new report by trade attorneys Terence Stewart and Elizabeth Drake that spells out how US trade enforcement has been undermined in rulings by the WTO’s Appellate Body.
As a result of unfair and often illegal practices by the US’ foreign trade partners, thousands of factories have closed and millions of jobs have disappeared, Conway said, adding that the US government’s ability to take effective action against illegal trade has saved thousands of jobs by implementing tariffs on subsidized and dumped goods, but this work has been undermined by the WTO.
“This is really about holding countries accountable to the agreements they made when they entered the WTO,” Conway said.
With 164 nations belonging to the WTO, the US accounted for less than 13 percent of trade remedy measures imposed by WTO members from 1995 to 2015, Conway said, but the United States was subject to 57.5 percent of the WTO's decisions in trade remedy disputes, with the Appellate Body ruling against the United States more than 90 percent of the time.