President Donald Trump signing his executive orders.
Credit: The White House.
The United States has suspended its financial contributions to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to sources in Washington.
The decision marks one of the boldest moves yet by this Trump administration to push toward the most protectionist trade policies and its broader retreat from international institutions perceived as clashing with the famed ‘America First’ economic agenda.
The suspension comes during concerted efforts to slash government spending and follows President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of a 25 per cent tariff on imported cars not manufactured in the US, planned to take effect on Wednesday, April 2.
Dubbed ‘liberation day’, the trade tariff looks to bolster domestic manufacturing but has raised alarms among industry experts. The White House projects it will generate $100 billion annually, yet analysts warn it could disrupt global supply chains and inflate retail prices, particularly for automakers reliant on international parts, or almost all of them.
President Trump has defended the policy, dismissing current cross-border supply chains as ‘ridiculous’ and insisting the tariffs be ‘permanent’ so as to revive US manufacturing. This position is in line with his administration’s move away from bodies like the WTO, the World Health Organisation, and the United Nations, as well as cuts to foreign aid.
Will human rights organisations say they are aligned as Trump stops paying WTO?
In a shockingly ironic twist, the move is almost perfectly aligned with human rights campaigns like 100 Million, Transform Trade, and scores of others who demonstrated at the 1999 Seattle and Prague protests against globalisation. Campaigning for an end to first-world manufacturing companies circumventing domestic workers’ rights legislation by outsourcing to much cheaper countries with much lower levels of safeguarding, Trump is seemingly on their side.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from key US trading partners. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called it ‘a very direct attack’, vowing to defend Canadian workers, companies, and the nation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen labelled the tariffs ‘taxes – bad for businesses, worse for consumers’.
The WTO could impose penalties if the US fails to resume payments within a year, according to its rules, with ‘administrative measures’ rising every year. As global trade tensions rise, the suspension heralds a bold, contentious chapter in America’s economic strategy under Trump’s leadership.
