Trump threatens to quit WTO if it doesn't 'shape up'

US President Donald Trump told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday that he would withdraw from the World Trade Organization unless it "shapes up" and treats the US better.

Donald Trump told Bloomberg: "If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO” adding that the agreement establishing the body "was the single worst trade deal ever made."

Trump said of the WTO: "we rarely won a lawsuit except for last year."

"In the last year, we're starting to win a lot," he added on that occasion. "You know why? Because they know if we don't, I'm out of there."

It isn’t the first time the President has threatened to do so, with a source having previously told Axios the President had made comments such as: "I don’t know why we’re in it. The WTO is designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States."

Yet at least some top administration officials disagree with the President, with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross being on record telling CNBC that talk of withdrawing from the WTO could be "a little premature".

Indeed, despite his comments the president requested help from the WTO over retaliatory tariffs from China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico and Turkey that the administration claimed were illegal.

Trump also told Bloomberg that he wants to move ahead with the plan to impose tariffs on $200.0bn-worth of imports from China, which may lead to a more dramatic escalation of the trade war between the two powers, with Beijing expected to respond in kind.