A new round of China-U.S. trade talks starts in Beijing on Thursday. This will be the eighth round of such high-level meetings between the two sides. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for more high-level trade talks.

Ahead of this, CGTN sat down with Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, to discuss the WTO's role in international trade. The U.S. once said very clearly that decisions about trade are not made in Geneva, but rather in Washington. Lamy expressed the statement is not what the WTO agreement is saying.

"When the WTO was created in 1994, the U.S. accepted a binding dispute settlement, which leaves to the appreciation of judges to decide whether or not China, the EU or the U.S. properly implement WTO rules," said Lamy.

"And this was a big step forward that made this rules-based system more solid than other realm of international governance, because we have a court system that adjudicate who is right and who is wrong," said Lamy.

Lamy told CGTN that the U.S. will suffer if it quits the WTO.

"I think there will be a huge cost for the U.S. economy. For instance, they will lose the protection of the WTO agreement that protect the U.S. intellectual property worldwide. U.S. intellectual property would only be enforced within the U.S. territory, that will be huge damage for U.S. economy," said Lamy.

"So I don't think it will happen, but in case it would happen, we have to be ready to think about WTO minus the U.S. After all, if they quit it has to be their problem, not our problem," Lamy said.

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