Josh Hawley Files Resolution to Withdraw U.S. from World Trade Organization

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has filed a joint resolution to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the wake of the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

This week, Hawley penned an op-ed in the New York Times where he called for the abolishment of the WTO, as Breitbart News reported. On Thursday, Hawley filed a resolution that would remove the U.S. from the WTO.

The resolution can be read here:

Josh Hawley WTO Resolution by John Binder on Scribd

Hawley said in a statement:

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed deep, long-standing flaws in our global economic system that demand reform. International organizations like the WTO have enabled the rise of China and benefitted elites around the globe while hollowing out American industry, from small towns to once-thriving urban centers.

We need to return production to America, secure critical supply chains, and encourage domestic innovation. Pulling out of the WTO is a good first step.

The resolution, officials told Breitbart News, will inevitably have to come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate due to rules passed by Congress in 1994. Those rules dictate that a report be sent to Congress every five years on the impact the WTO has had on the American economy.

The rules allow Congress to revoke U.S. participation in the WTO through a resolution within 90 days after the report is provided to lawmakers.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted and China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), nearly five million American manufacturing jobs have been eliminated from the American economy — 3.4 million of which are due to U.S. free trade with China. The mass elimination of working and middle class jobs and depressed U.S. wages due to NAFTA and China’s entering the WTO have coincided with a more than 600 percent increase in trade deficits.

Of the 3.4 million American jobs lost due to free trade with China, about 2.6 million — or about three-fourths — were lost in the crippled manufacturing industry. U.S. trade deficits with China have eliminated American jobs in all 50 states.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.