Trump Says Talks Began on ‘Reform’ of World Trade Organization

(Bloomberg) --

President Donald Trump said he’s begun talks with World Trade Organization director-general Roberto Azevedo on changing the structure of the body, which he complained has been unfair to the U.S.

Azevedo will travel to the U.S. for negotiations, Trump said Wednesday at a news conference to close his visit to the World Economic Forum annual conference in Davos, Switzerland.

“We’re talking about a whole new structure for the deal or we’ll have to do something, but the World Trade Organization has been very unfair to the United States for many, many years,” Trump said. He and Azevedo are discussing something “very dramatic,” he said.

Azevedo joined him for the news conference. The WTO “has to be updated. It has to be changed. It has to be reformed. This is an agenda that is squarely before members,” he said. “I don’t think anybody in Geneva misses the point.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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