Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said Wednesday that it’s time to abolish the World Trade Organization (WTO), or at least for the United States to get out of the organization.
“It’s what’s best for America,” Hawley said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“Let’s get back to basics. We ought to be pursuing policies that are good for our workers and our families. We’ve lost over two million jobs to China since China became part of the World Trade Organization. China has really weaponized the international trade system and the WTO to their own benefit of course, and against us,” Hawley said.
“So it’s time we take the lead and redesign these institutions. Let’s set up new rules, new partnerships that actually work for American workers and put America first.”
Hawley said he finds it “amazing” that the WTO is treated like some “sacrosanct” pillar of the international community since it was only created in 1995 and “hasn’t worked for this country” since then.
“We pursue things that are good, or should be, for America and American workers and American families. And the WTO has failed. Let’s not tether ourselves to it any longer. Let’s replace it with something better,” the senator said. (RELATED: Trump Takes Aim At The WTO For Giving China An Unfair Advantage Over The US)
In an email to the Daily Caller Thursday, Hawley said Americans can no longer buy into the WTO’s talking points. “The WTO and internationalists’ misguided vision of a new world order has passed its expiration date,” he said. “We have lost millions of jobs to China since they joined the WTO and our workers are suffering because of it. The U.S. needs to pursue policies that put American workers and American families first, and getting rid of the W.T.O. is a good start.”
President Donald Trump has often criticized the operations and apparently biases of the WTO.
“The WTO is BROKEN when the world’s RICHEST countries claim to be developing countries to avoid WTO rules and get special treatment. NO more!!! Today I directed the U.S. Trade Representative to take action so that countries stop CHEATING the system at the expense of the USA!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
President Donald Trump speaks to the troops during a surprise Thanksgiving day visit at Bagram Air Field, on Nov. 28, 2019 in Afghanistan. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
The senator argued that the people who like the WTO are the same people who want America to stay involved in conflicts around the world and who desire “a liberal universal empire” with the U.S. as “the world’s policeman.” (RELATED: Does The US Lose ‘Almost All’ Trade Disputes?)
“They are the same people who sent our sons and daughters overseas to die in these forever wars to try and create this universal peace … well it didn’t work; it was never going to work.”
Canada hosted a WTO meeting in October 2018 for “like-minded” partners to discuss the relevancy of the organization. The United States was not invited.