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Spotlight: No indication future U.S. gov't to quit WTO: chief

Xinhua, November 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevedo on Thursday told reporters he hasn't received any information regarding the future U.S. government withdrawing from the trade body.

He said he was convinced the WTO would continue to be an important partner for the United States.

Speaking to a group of journalists here, Azevedo said he had not spoken to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump yet, but that he and his organization were ready for conversations to engage in deepening relations with the United States and other WTO members.

During his presidential campaign, Trump called the WTO a "disaster" and said the United States could quit the Geneva-based body. However, Azevedo told reporters that he had not had any indication from anybody that this could be the case.

"I don't have a transcript of what he had said exactly, but at this point I think what we need to do is be ready for a conversation, and I am convinced WTO can continue to be an important partner for the United States as well as other major members," he said.

"Free trade might be a component for some problems, but it also can be a larger component for solutions," he noted.

The WTO chief stressed that his organization is remaining a very important partner of the United States and it is necessary to wait until Trump defines the U.S. trade policy.

"We have to look at the details. I think it is really early to decide what the implications are. We have to responsibly wait and see what would be the facts," Azevedo added.

Since free trade has often been targeted by anti-globalization protests for job losses, Azevedo emphasized that although trade can be disruptive, it was wrong to blame it for widespread unemployment, with 8 out of 10 job losses in advanced economies due to domestic-led drives for innovation, automation and productivity.

"Obviously, there are some concerns over globalization in some societies. We should be very careful with that because if you don't have the right diagnosis, you don't have the right medicine. If the medicine is simply protectionism, the outcome will be that you will harm the patient," he noted. Endit