Replacing NATO and the WTO in light of Trump’s declarations

Trump wants to destroy the multilateral bodies that have served western nations well since the 1950s. Those countries now need to rapidly replace NATO and the WTO with more focused (transactional?) bodies. The first premise is that the US is not invited.

WTO

The western nations need to remove themselves from the WTO and its restrictions and MFN manipulations. The nations invited to this new grouping are the former British Commonwealth nations plus most of the EU (exclude Hungary & Ireland). The simple premise will be that products made in any member country are deemed safe for sale without tariff or non-tariff restriction. Any litigation about a product will be handled by the country of origin, its laws and courts; no transnational regulations or judiciary. The base for currency reserves will be the euro. The ECB will issue bonds for purchase by member countries. Those countries will sell their US treasury bills.  The focus will be solely on trade: no immigration, travel, foreign policy or any other practice currently in place in the member countries will be included.

NATO

The same countries will withdraw from NATO. They will reconstitute sectoral defense treaties: Canada and the Nordics in the Arctic, Britain, Germany, France, Poland & the Baltics in continental Europe, Italy, Spain & Greece in the Mediterranean. The focus will be on air, missile, drone and armies. If a perception of naval risk across the North Atlantic trade routes develops, Canada & Britain will resurrect the WWII convoy practice.

These smaller nations need to assemble to protect themselves against the trade and security threats that the US, Russia and China present. Consideration of common external, significant tariffs against non-members should be made. Such tariffs should be large enough to make group membership significantly advantageous.

Trump wants to retreat into a continental isolation. It didn’t work in the 20^th century but we’ll have to wait for the US electorate to realize the damage his retreat is causing them. Given his current practice of reneging on treaties, requests for the US to join these two new groupings should receive a fast no, then long term discussion.

We have an international crisis. Bold measures are needed.