European Union Uses WTO as Weapon Against US

The US has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since a lame duck session of Congress agreed to join in 1994. At the time, opponents of WTO membership warned that joining would further erode our national sovereignty. How does that prediction look now, in 2003?

In the years since 1994, we have seen the WTO rule against US import restrictions on lumber, wheat gluten, lamb and steel products. It has decided that our Byrd Amendment (which mandates anti-dumping payments to industries injured by dumping) is "illegal" under the trade agreement. A US tax law partially exempting overseas divisions from income tax has been declared a violation of the agreement.

The European Union has lately been taking more advantage of our willingness to obey the dictates of the WTO. Since 2002 they have been demanding that European companies be given the right to bid on contracts for delivery of US Mail, operation of municipal water supplies, and other clearly domestic services.

The latest manifestation of European gall is their claim of trademarks for generic food product names. I wonder what Papa John's will call the cheese on their pizza when the WTO tells them they can't say "mozzarella" unless they buy the cheese from Italy. What will we drink at wedding receptions when "champagne" comes only from France?

How likely is it that the WTO will go along with these more extreme attempts by Europe to control US law? Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, seems to think it very likely. He claims that the WTO has been acting as "a kangaroo court against the United States." Baucus complains that rather than enforcing the trade agreement, the WTO committees "are legislating, making up rules out of whole cloth, substituting their judgment for the negotiated agreement."

Senator Baucus has hit the nail on the head. What Congress really ceded to the WTO is the power to legislate for our country. And that is a clear violation of our Constitution. Article I, Section I clearly states that "All legislative Powers granted herein shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." Nowhere in the Constitution is Congress authorized to delegate that power to anyone else; least of all to a foreign body like the WTO.

A more specific power granted to Congress in the Constitution is found in Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power To…regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes;" This is one of the eighteen or so enumerated powers of Congress. Again, the Constitution does not allow Congress to delegate this power to others. By our membership in the WTO, that's just what Congress has done.

What about the original question: how does the prediction that WTO membership would further erode our sovereignty look in 2003? Clearly that prediction was right on the money. Now that we have hindsight to support the foresight of the original WTO opponents, it is time to correct the mistake the lame duck Congress made in 1994. Our nation should withdraw from all sovereignty-reducing international agreements – WTO, NAFTA, the UN, etc. – and resist those who are constantly cooking up more such schemes.