Sen. Josh Hawley is taking action to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization, accusing it of hurting U.S. jobs and enabling the rise of China as a world power.
Hawley introduced a joint resolution this week calling for Congress to withdraw its approval of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which established the World Trade Organization in 1994.
“The coronavirus pandemic has exposed deep, long-standing flaws in our global economic system that demand reform,” the Missouri Republican said in a statement. “International organizations like the WTO have enabled the rise of China and benefited elites around the globe while hollowing out American industry, from small towns to once-thriving urban centers. We need to return production to America, secure critical supply chains, and encourage domestic innovation. Pulling out of the WTO is a good first step.”
Hawley wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday, calling the WTO a globalist institution and advocating for its abolition.
“Its mandate was to promote free trade, but the organization instead allowed some nations to maintain trade barriers and protectionist workarounds, like China, while preventing others from defending themselves, like the United States,” Hawley wrote.
The WTO replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which was established in 1948. It is the only global trade organization dealing with the rules of trade between countries. It describes its goal as helping producers of goods and services and exporters and importers conduct their business.
