Trump blocks global trade referee powers just ahead of planned China escalation
President Donald Trump speaks on "America First" approach to national security on Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in Washington.The terms of two of the last three judges on the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body expire Tuesday at midnight.
The move comes as Trump escalates protectionist policies on multiple fronts, including through plans to extend punitive tariffs to virtually all imports from China on Sunday.The Trump administration is set to allow the chief international trade-dispute referee to lose its ability to function this week, upending the global commerce system further as tariff threats escalate on multiple fronts.
"By blocking all new appointments to the WTO's dispute-resolution court, President Trump has allowed it to decline from seven members to three," Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor,. "Donald 'Tariff Man' Trump can now impose whatever tariffs he likes, without fear that the WTO might find them to be illegal."
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