Trump dreams of WTO exit, but Mnuchin denies it

President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted to his staff that he wants the US to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation, according to to reports that were later denied.

Trump had threatened to withdraw “100 times” and reported that the President had described the organization as “designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States”, reported Axios on Friday, citing an anonymous source.

Analysts warned that a US exit from the organisation could cause chaos, casting trillions of dollars of trade into doubt.

It is understood that aides have attempted to explain to the President that the US has benefited from proceedings at the WTO and actually created the system in place itself, as opposed to “the rest of the world”.

However, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin later told Fox Business Network the reports were wrong and termed it as "an exaggeration".

The Economic Report of the President for 2018, a document which even bears Trump’s signature, said: “The United States has won 85.7% of the cases it has initiated before the WTO since 1995, compared with a global average of 84.4%. In contrast, China’s success rate is just 66.7%.”

As such, it is unlikely that the US will exit the organisation, with the President’s economic advisers reportedly intent on focusing the administration’s attention on addressing the WTO’s framework rather than leaving it altogether.

EU leaders on Thursday agreed “in substance” with proposals to improve the WTO in what appeared to be an effort to placate the US President.

The reports of the President’s discontent echo statements he made during his election campaign, where he referred to the WTO as a “disaster”.

The reports emerged as European officials confirmed that Trump openly criticised NATO at the G7 summit earlier this month, causing concern among allies ahead of the NATO summit in Brussels on 11 July.

“It will be an interesting summit. NATO is as bad as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). It’s much too costly for the US,” said Trump.

Trump’s distaste for the WTO and NATO is in-keeping with a foreign policy that firmly rejects multilateral organisations, with previous targets for the President’s ire including NAFTA, which he has threatened to leave, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which he abandoned, and the EU, which he frequently criticises.