# Trump threatens to take US out of WTO **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-take-us-out-of-wto/820566 "2018-08-31T10:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-take-us-out-of-wto/820566/21 "2018-08-31T21:58:53Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > No. You’re wrong. Stop being stupid. And stop being his tool. Well, I’m convinced. Your argument is overwhelming in its logic and clarity. Congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-take-us-out-of-wto/820566/22 "2018-08-31T22:25:10Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > That’s pretty much it. Another instance where this offered possibilities was his NK gambit, though that seems unlikely to be successful at this time. > > I don’t think that’s necessarily what’s involved. But OK. The most notable thing about this “we hate international trade thing” is that it didn’t need fixing to start with. The the best of my admittedly imperfect knowledge, nobody of any discernible presence or importance was screaming “We’re being boned in trade! EVERYONE is boning us in trade! CANADA IS SCREWING US OVER!!” With NK, there was at least an existing problem that he could then turn his unique blend of corruption, ignorance, incompetence, and stupidity to in and effort to find the kind of solutions that only a corrupt, ignorant, incompetent moron could imagine were a good idea. But this trade thing? He’s even fixing anything. He’s just tearing stuff down and waving his tiny fists in the air. It’s like saying your computer was running a little slow, so you’re going to give a rage-filled moron a baseball bat and give him the run of the house. And then when your computer is in pieces all over the carpet, defending the way he’s smashing your kitchen to bits by claiming that you still expect things to somehow improve as a result of his labors. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-take-us-out-of-wto/820566/23 "2018-09-01T01:31:26Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > BBC story [here](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45364150). > > I mean this is only the organisation managing the basics of world-wide trade. What could possibly go wrong? If you thought that Brexit was bad then this is really going to make you steam. And Trump is old enough for his parents to have educated him about what happened in the 1930s when trade barriers went up. Smoot-Hawley, anyone? I have my doubts about, well, all of it. No doubts about the reckless stupidity of the CFSG. But the WTO is probably [not the hill I would choose to dig in for](https://www.citizen.org/world-trade-organization-wto). It appears to be a deeply flawed model that has come to be structured to favor global plutocratic ideals, possibly even hazardous. That said, jumping ship will not weaken the WTO or make America stronger. If it is in fact a destructive force in the world, it seems more likely that we could have a chance to curb or reform it from the inside, but, on the outside, we would have no leverage against an entity that would nonetheless still affect us. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-take-us-out-of-wto/820566/24 "2018-09-01T05:22:52Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Bolding mine. Your argument seems to be that Trump-the-dipshit can accidentally stumble onto greatness because the established players and experts are all overlooking the correct course of action because they’re mindlessly entrenched by habit and convention. > > I’m not even _slightly_ convinced that’s the case on the subject of “should we make literally everyone our enemy”. And if that’s not the case, then I don’t see how the rest of your argument doesn’t fall apart. :dubious: You have been doing that for the past 20 years. All Trump has done is 1. Cut out the niceties 2. Extended it to white countries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-take-us-out-of-wto/820566.md?page=1)