Adjunct Professor Matt Gold appeared in National Public Radio where he discussed trade policies under Trump administration.
But Trump has implied he may use Section 301 without WTO authorization. Bypassing the WTO would be quicker.
“It saves time,” says Matt Gold, a former deputy assistant US trade representative. A WTO case “would take a few years for us to bring it to a WTO panel, get a decision, then it will get appealed to the WTO appellate body. Then we get another decision. Then we have to go through another WTO process to get authorization for specific types of trade barriers. … So it can take a few years to get the WTO authorization.”
But Gold says using Section 301 without WTO authorization would leave the US government in conflict with its obligations under international law.