European Union Debate Expulsion from the United States of the WTO

The president of the International Trade Commission of the European Parliament, Bernd Lange, reveals that a debate is underway to seek ways to expel the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The German parliamentarian admits that there is no legal certainty about how this will happen, but the climate is dissatisfied due to the stoppage of WTO decisions since 2019, when, in Donald Trump’s first term, the United States blocked the nominations for the appeal body.

“I’m not sure if it will be legally possible, but now they blocked last month for the 86th time the nomination for the mechanism of appeals. And then he remains without judges,” Lange complains in an interview with Estadão.

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He explains that the proposal needs to be built with the 165 countries that are part of the WTO. “Countries like Indonesia and India can play a proactive role in the organization,” he says.

Lange explains that Europe aims to be an element of stabilization for international trade. In this sense, the WTO needs to be reformed.

“We want to create a network of reliable partners, and be a stabilization element and give predictability to investments. This is crucial, or global trade will be stopped. I hope we can have a common front against President Trump’s illegal and unjustifiable policy,” he argues.

Tariff

About Brazil, the deputy states that the country is being attacked at this time. “Trump is using tariffs not as an economic measure, but as a weapon of political pressure. There is this new investigation, through section 301, from the US against Brazil, on digital regulation and other elements, in which it is clear that it is a coercive use of tariffs,” he says.

The president of the European Commission states that the world has changed. “It won’t be as it was before Trump. That’s sure. So we need to be very careful to protect the multilateral trade system. Of course the United States are important. But only Europe is responsible for 15% of global trade,” he says.

Thus, the parliamentarian points out that Europe is committed to the WTO, which needs to be reformed and stabilized. “In March next year, we will have a big meeting in Cameroon. So it would be important to have a good sign for that,” he said.