Lee Metcalf: “the U.S. membership in WTO violates our Constitution. Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution delegates to…”

“the U.S. membership in WTO violates our Constitution. Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution delegates to Congress the sole authority to ``regulate commerce with foreign nations.'' Our membership in WTO transfers authority to regulate trade to a foreign body. It removes it from our elected representatives, this Congress. This Congress does not have the authority to set aside such constitutional requirements. In its 1998 decision regarding the line item veto, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress cannot divest itself of duties delegated to it by the Constitution, unless the Constitution is amended. The U.S. Constitution has not been amended to allow an international organization like the WTO to regulate American trade policies. Therefore, Congress cannot divest itself of the duty to regulate commerce with foreign nations. I believe the WTO is an entirely non-legitimate international organization. Many of its member states do not represent the people of their country. They represent the single will of the sovereign of their country. The American Congress gets its legitimacy from the people of the United States. It cannot grant legitimacy to an international body over and above that of our own citizenry. To suggest by our membership that the WTO is legitimate, we must ignore our people, our citizenry, and our Constitution. However, it seems that sovereignty or legitimacy are no longer issues that many in this Congress want to address.”