Trump threatens not to recognize China’s special status at WTO 0 SHARES Share it! Share TweetBy Agence France-PressePresident Donald Trump on Friday threatened to withdraw recognition of the special “developing nation” status of China and other relatively rich countries at the World Trade Organization unless changes are made to the body’s rules. The global trade body uses “an outdated dichotomy between developed and developing countries that has allowed some WTO members to gain unfair advantages,” Trump said in a statement. Without “substantial progress” to reform WTO rules within 90 days, Washington will no longer treat as a developing country any WTO member “improperly declaring itself a developing country and inappropriately seeking the benefit of flexibilities in WTO rules and negotiations,” the statement said. “The WTO is BROKEN when the world’s RICHEST countries claim to be developing countries to avoid WTO rules and get special treatment.

Source: Manila Bulletin July 26, 2019 23:14 UTC