Maxim Medvedkov, an advisor to the Center of Expertise on World Trade Organization Issues and former chief negotiator for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), wrote for RT that the question is now: “Is the United States preparing to leave the World Trade Organization (WTO), or is it trying to force long-overdue reforms upon an organization it has increasingly sidelined?”
He continues in his RT feature “Trump’s Tariff War Breaks the Rules–and Dares the World To Stop Him”: “By imposing sweeping new tariffs, the U.S. has not only blatantly violated its WTO commitments but has also signaled that it no longer feels bound by international trade law. Moreover, Washington has shown no intention of invoking the WTO’s existing mechanisms for handling emergency tariff hikes. This overlooked point is crucial: either America returns to playing by the rules, or it continues down a path where trade is governed by unilateral concepts, not multilateral law. The very future of U.S. participation in the WTO hinges on this decision.”
