Bangladesh and other weak economies might face difficulties if the United States, the richest country in the world, pulls out from the multilateral trading system.
According to a Reuters report, US President Donald Trump on Thursday at an interview with Bloomberg News threatened to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation.
“Countries like Bangladesh always enjoy some benefits under rule-based system, which is now prevailing,” Centre for Policy Dialogue Distinguish Fellow Mostafizur Rahman told Bangla Tribune.
Special and Preferential Treatment under WTO regime gives extra trade benefits for Bangladesh, he said.
If the multilateral trading arrangement falls apart, the rich and powerful countries can put pressure on Bangladesh and other small economies on different issues like intellectual property rights or trade union, he said.
He, however, said the threat from the US president is a pressure tactics to gain benefits in the ongoing WTO reform negotiation.
Subscribing the similar views, Policy Research Institute Executive Director Ahsan Mansur said, Washington wants to bring reform in the WTO system and it is now negotiating with European Union, China and other countries.
“In my opinion, end of the day they will not pull itself out from the system,” he said.
He, however, said Bangladesh should emphasize on bilateral trading arrangement as the benefits it enjoys under multilateral system will be fizzled out when it will graduate to middle income country within a couple of years.
“We should have strong negotiation skill backed by solid studies so that we can have free trade agreement with different countries,” he added.
According to the Reuters report, in the interview with Bloomberg News Trump said “If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO.”
Trump has complained the United States is treated unfairly in global trade and has blamed the WTO for allowing that to happen. He has also warned he could take action against the global body, although he has not specified what form that could take.
Such a move could undermine one of the foundations of the modern global trading system, which the United States was instrumental in creating.