World needs either multilateral trading system or bilateral pacts - USTR

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Thursday said the world needed either a multilateral system to govern global trade or a series of bilateral agreements, but it did not make sense to have both underway at the same time. "We should have a multilateral system or a bunch of bilateral systems," Lighthizer told an online event hosted by the London-based Chatham House think tank. "To be honest, I can go either way.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Thursday said the world needed either a multilateral system to govern global trade or a series of bilateral agreements, but it did not make sense to have both underways at the same time.

"We should have a multilateral system or a bunch of bilateral systems," Lighthizer told an online event hosted by the London-based Chatham House think tank.

"To be honest, I can go either way. But we can't have people who ... profess to multilateralism and then go around basically being the biggest proponents of a bilateral system."