As we have shown in the past, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is an entity that was created under the guise of promoting free trade internationally, but which in actuality is a group of foreign bureaucrats who regulate trade. (See "The WTO Trap" in the January 10 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN.) And the trade policies it regulates are intentionally vague so that member countries really only know what is allowable when one member country contests another country's trade policy and the bureaucrats at the WTO make a ruling.

Because the WTO can authorize sanctions, it wields great power, including being able to effectively supersede a member country’s laws (including those in the United States). To disentangle the U.S. from this unfolding nightmare, Representatives Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) on March 2 introduced House Joint Resolution 27 to withdraw the U.S. from the WTO.

According to the agreement establishing U.S. participation in the WTO, every five years any member of Congress may introduce a privileged resolution to force the full House (or Senate) to vote up or down on whether to get the U.S. out of the WTO. Once a joint resolution to exit the WTO is introduced, the resolution must be forwarded to the floor of the sponsoring house within 90 days for a vote.

A vote on H.J. Res. 27 is expected in June. This resolution is highly privileged, and no amendments may be attached to it.

If this resolution passes in the House and Senate, President Bush is likely to veto it, meaning that a major grass-roots effort is needed to get the necessary number of votes to get us out of the WTO.

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