The US has long been the leader and driving-force that advocate the liberalization of trade for decades but now the US is causing anxiety among supporters of the process of liberalization and globalization. Trump’s nationalism agenda has stocked fear that US current approach will undermine the international trade system. 

 The international trade system is mainly managed by agreements among groups of countries that intend to have deeper trade integration under the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO). President Trump  has pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has also threatened to deny the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). However, the Trump administration is using the WTO to justify its trade deficits e.g. the recent controversial tariffs on steel and aluminum. It is followed by an investigation by US Commerce Department which conclude that imports of these metals would threaten national security of the US. The WTO framework permit countries to impose trade barriers on imports in certain circumstance to protect national security. But the EU and China do not believe that the action of the US is based on the real national security concerns but instead on protectionism. Tariffs on importer solar panels and washing machines could be considered as safeguard measures, if they are done in a manner consistent with WTO rules. But its recent action that target Chinese goods has caused concerns. It is true that protecting intellectual property (IP) of trade partners is permitted in WTO rules and both the US and EU share a similar concern over China IP System. But countries in most circumstances are supposed to use WTO system before undertaking unilateral retaliation with authorization. 

If the US would like to use WTO justification, will President Trump be willing to wait until there is a ruling? It is possible that the US will adopt further action while the WTO process is going on. Chinese officials warned that the unilateralism of the US undermines the multilateral trading system and member countries of WTO should act together for the compliance of the US. 

President Trump’ view on trade is that other countries take advantage of the US and trade agreements are defective and unfair. It is true that American tariffs are relatively low, but the main losers from tariffs are buyers of these affected goods in the country that imposes them. American consumers have to pay more as a result of higher tariffs on imported goods. But Trump’s focus, so far, has been put on producers i.e. firms and employees rather than American consumers.