While the World Trade Organization director general admits it needs changes, he also says President Donald Trump's criticism is "damaging."
Trump has called out the WTO's outdated rules for permitting China to prosper at the expense of the United States.
"It's damaging of course because it's the largest economy in the world, it used to be the major champion of the multilateral rules, particularly in the WTO," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo told Sunday's "The Andrew Marr Show" on BBC, per Politico. "So that kind of criticism without a proper response by the system is damaging."
But Azevêdo even admits the truth in Trump's criticism of the WTO trade rules being lenient on China and outdated from the 1990s. The rules need to be refreshed.
"I think it is a fair criticism," Azevêdo told Marr, per Politico, "to the fact that our rules on state aid are less than what they could be."
"The world has changed considerably," he added, per the report. "I think it is a fair to say that the rules on state aid need updating."
Also, he acknowledged, the criticism is not coming with a U.S. effort to engage in the nature of the reforms.
"There is a lot going on at this point in time," he added, per Politico. "The U.S. is criticizing but it is also engaging."
The WTO's Appellate Body was unable to operate in December after the U.S. undermined it by blocking nominations of new judges, according to Politico.
Come January, the European Union, China, Brazil, and 14 other members began setting up a WTO court without the U.S, per the report.
The time table also corresponds with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which the U.S. said originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, and was accidentally released in the city and ultimately the world.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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