U.S. Plans to Sap W.T.O.'S Influence in Trade Brawls
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
C M Y K Yxxx,2019-12-09,A,001,Bs-4C,E2 National Edition Cloudy. Wintry mix north. Showers elsewhere. Highs in upper 30s to 50s. Showers south tonight. Wintry mix elsewhere. Lows in teens to 20s. Weather map appears on Page D7. VOL. CLXIX ... No. 58,536 © 2019 The New York Times Company MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2019 Printed in Chicago $3.00 Right Rejoices U.S. PLANS TO SAP As Barr Assails W.T.O.’S INFLUENCE Liberal Culture IN TRADE BRAWLS No-Apologies Style Fits the Party of Trump ERASING MEDIATOR ROLE By JEREMY W. PETERS and KATIE BENNER Trump’s Bid to Upend a WASHINGTON — When Presi- Global System May dent Trump nominated William P. Barr as attorney general a year Incite Tariff Wars ago, establishment Republicans who had chafed at Mr. Trump’s takeover of their party were re- By ANA SWANSON lieved. Between Mr. Barr’s work WASHINGTON — The United in the Reagan White House and States has spent two years chip- his fast-track career under ping away at the World Trade Or- George Bush, he could be a bridge ganization, criticizing it as unfair, to the Republican Party they starving it of personnel and disre- knew — and preferred. garding its authority, as President How wrong they were. Trump seeks to upend the global Mr. Barr has eagerly embraced trade system. the most divisive and disputed as- This week, the Trump adminis- pects of the Trump agenda, much tration is expected to go one step to the delight of the party’s hard- further and effectively cripple the line conservatives who see him as organization’s system for enforc- an indispensable ally in their fight ing its rules — even as Mr. to push the country further to the Trump’s widening trade war has right on issues like religious lib- thrown global commerce into dis- erty, immigration and policing. array and another tariff increase LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Other conservative attorneys on Chinese goods set for next general shared Mr. Barr’s relish weekend could send markets reel- ‘We Don’t Want to Become Like China’ for political battle. But as he at- ing. Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday in a march to mark Human Rights Day. Page A8. tacks the Democratic Party, as- Over the past two years, Wash- sails liberal culture and defends ington has blocked the W.T.O. the president against accusations from appointing new members to of abusing his office, Mr. Barr has a crucial panel that hears appeals wielded a maximalist view of ex- in trade disputes. Only three How an Ex-Mayor Led a President to the Brink of Impeachment ecutive power and adopted a members are left on the seven- blithely antagonistic, no-apolo- member body, the minimum nominate him to the most presti- wife says — but in his five decades gies style that set him apart from needed to hear a case, and two gious of cabinet posts. as a public figure, he has never his predecessors. members’ terms expire on Tues- This article is by Jim Dwyer, Jo Denied Post, Giuliani been more prominent in national That makes him a natural fit in a day. With the administration Becker, Kenneth P. Vogel, Maggie “How about,” Mr. Giuliani Republican Party that Mr. Trump blocking any new replacements, Haberman and Sarah Maslin Nir. asked, “secretary of state?” Settled for Spotlight affairs. Chief global representative of Step by step, he has escorted has remade in his mold. But it wor- there will be no official resolution ries critics in both parties who Not so long ago, it seemed to the United States in war, peace President Trump to the brink of for many international trade dis- fear that Mr. Barr is eroding the Rudolph W. Giuliani that he would and trade. impeachment. Mr. Giuliani him- putes. Justice Department’s traditional be presiding over a hefty part of It would be a sublime reward for paign by doing dirty work that no self is now under criminal investi- The loss of the world’s primary independence in law enforce- the world. having thrown in with Mr. Trump one else wanted and trudging gation by federal prosecutors in trade referee could turn the typi- ment. They point to his handling Holding court a few nights after ahead even after the candidate the very office where he enjoyed cally deliberate process of resolv- when the respectable Republican of the Mueller report, which he the 2016 election in a private cigar establishment was keeping its dis- lashed him with humiliations. his first extended draughts of ing international disputes into a fame nearly four decades ago. The summarized in a letter widely free-for-all, paving the way for an bar on Fifth Avenue, glass of tance, a fresh burst of stardom in a Three years on, Mr. Giuliani seen as more favorable to Mr. separate troubles he has gotten outbreak of tit-for-tat tariff wars. Macallan at hand, Mr. Giuliani public life that had been fading never got the job he believed he Trump, and his appointment of a his client and himself into are It could also signal the demise boasted to friends that President- fast. Mr. Giuliani made himself in- had coming — “a bitter disap- prosecutor to re-examine the elect Donald J. Trump would soon dispensable to the Trump cam- pointment,” his now-estranged Continued on Page A16 of the 24-year-old World Trade Or- opening of the Russia investiga- ganization itself, since the system tion, which Mr. Trump has long for settling disputes has long been impugned. its most effective part. To the conservatives who make CAROLL SPINNEY, 1933-2019 “The W.T.O. is facing its deepest Insult in Class up the most solid foundation of the crisis since its creation,” Phil Ho- president’s base — a wing of the gan, the European trade commis- Republican Party that is generally Left a Gunman Puppeteer Who Made Days Sunny as Big Bird more uncompromising on social Continued on Page A9 issues and enthusiastic about po- Furious on Base litical combat with the left — Mr. By ROBERT D. McFADDEN Barr is the template of the public Sometimes he stood 8 feet 2 servant they envisioned when Mr. By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS inches tall. Sometimes he lived in Trump promised to give them a garbage can. He often cited greater influence in his adminis- The investigation into the fatal numbers and letters of the alpha- tration. shooting last week at a Navy bet, and for nearly a half century He is a devoted Catholic who training center in Florida was offi- on “Sesame Street” he was Big has said he believes the nation cially characterized as a terrorism Bird and Oscar the Grouch, open- needs a “moral renaissance” to re- inquiry on Sunday, as new details ing magic doors for children on store Judeo-Christian values in emerged about the Saudi Air the secrets of growing up and the Force trainee who killed three Continued on Page A18 gentle arts of friendship. sailors on the base where he was a His name was Caroll Spinney — visiting student. not that many people would know JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ/REUTERS As the F.B.I. continues to con- TRAUMA More migrant families it — and he was the comfortably may face detention, at great cost The W.T.O. is hearing chal- duct interviews with everyone at anonymous whole-body pup- to children’s well-being. PAGE A12 lenges to U.S. tariffs on steel. the Pensacola Naval Air Station peteer who, since the 1969 incep- who may have had contact with tion of the public television show the gunman, identified as Second that has nurtured untold millions Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, a of children, had portrayed the new report emerged that the sweet-natured, canary-yellow gi- At a Gateway to Power in Japan, Saudi trainee filed a formal com- ant bird and the misanthropic, plaint earlier this year against one furry-green bellyacher in the of his instructors, who left him “in- trash can outside 123 Sesame Only 1 in 5 Students Is a Woman furiated” in class by tagging him Street. with a derogatory nickname. Mr. Spinney, who also per- The complaint, quoted in a com- formed his characters in live con- By MOTOKO RICH munication circulated among peo- certs around the world and at the TOKYO — From a young age, ple connected to the flight train- White House many times and was graduates at the university were Satomi Hayashi studied hard and ing, said that the instructor re- featured in films, documentaries women. excelled academically. It seemed ferred to Lieutenant Alshamrani and record albums, died on Sun- The dearth of women at Todai is as “Porn Stash” in front of about 10 day at his home in Woodstock, only natural that she would follow a byproduct of deep-seated gen- other aviation students, embar- Conn. He was 85. in her father’s footsteps and at- der inequality in Japan, where rassing and angering him. His death was announced by tend the University of Tokyo, Ja- women are still not expected to “I was infuriated as to why he Sesame Workshop. It said in a pan’s most prestigious institution. achieve as much as men and would say that in front of the statement that he had lived for As soon as she was admitted, sometimes hold themselves back class,” the Saudi trainee wrote in some time with dystonia, which her friends warned that she was from educational opportunities.