Trump: Not Planning On Taking US Out Of WTO

President Donald Trump said he was not planning on withdrawing from the WTO, following a published report that aides have crafted a bill that would allow him to unilaterally withdraw from the WTO and raise tariffs at will."WTO's treated the United States very badly," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We are not planning anything now, but if they do not treat us properly, we will be doing something." he said.On Sunday, Axios reported that the White House has drafted a bill that would allow Trump to skirt Congress and WTO rules on trade, giving him the power to raise tariffs and set different rates for member countries with little to no oversight, running afoul of long-established global trade rules.Asked what Trump meant by "doing something," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "I do not have a specific announcement on what he would do. Right now, he would like to see the system get fixed, and that is what he is focused on doing."Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Monday echoed that the U.S. is not planning an imminent departure from the WTO despite Trump's frustrations with the global body. Ross said it is a "little premature" to talk about withdrawing from the WTO. "We have made no secret of our view that there are some reforms needed at the WTO," Ross said in a CNBC Squawk Box interview. He said that WTO members have acknowledged that reforms are needed.But any legislation to withdraw from the WTO stands little chance of passing on Capitol Hill. Congress can vote every five years on whether to stay in the WTO and no votes were taken in either 2010 or 2015. The next possible vote would be 2020