In an oval office interview with Bloomberg on Thursday this past week, President Trump accused the World Trade Organization (WTO) of treating the US unfairly, and said that he would withdraw the US from the the World Trade Organization (WTO) if it doesn't start treating Americans better.

Trump said that the agreement establishing the body "was the single worst trade deal ever made."

In 1994, the US led a group of nations to establish the WTO to provide rules for global trade, as well as a means of resolving trade disputes between member countries. Yet under Trump's generally protectionist economic leadership, the US and the WTO have butted heads over the resolution of trade disputes, particularly with China.

A US withdrawal from the WTO could potentially be far more significant for the global economy than even Trump's growing trade war with China, undermining the post-World War II economic order that the US helped build, as well as threatening a widespread trend towards globalization.

Both Trump and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer have sharply criticized the WTO, claiming that it has interfered with US sovereignty. They have also complained that the WTO has strayed from its original intent by attempting to resolve trade disputes between US, the EU, and China. Lighthizer has also criticized the WTO dispute-settlement system for limiting US sovereignty specifically relating to anti-dumping cases - i.e., cases where the WTO has attempted to investigate and limit companies that price goods significantly below market value outside their home market order to move them.

Most recently, the US has been blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO's appeals body, increasing the likelihood that the organization could terminate its operations completely in the coming years.

Yet even as the US criticizes the WTO, it has on numerous occasions sought WTO assistance in dealing with retaliatory tariffs imposed by China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico and Turkey, according to CNBC. The most recent data suggests that in July alone, the US filed five dispute actions with the WTO, arguing that the tariffs put in place against the US were illegal under the trade organization's rules.

Other Trump administration officials have also criticized the WTO's actions lately, arguing that the organization needs to enact reforms. Still, a complete withdrawal from America is unlikely for now; in July, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC that talk to withdraw from the WTO was "a little premature."