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World Trade Organization And Its Critics

The World Trade Organization and Its Critics

Contents

What is the WTO? 2
How the WTO is Organized 5
Decision Making Process 6
Non Effective System 7
Dominant Critics 8
Complaints 11
Goals 12
Structure 13
Positive Responses 14
Should the WTO be abolished? 16
Bibliography 19

THE WTO AND ITS CRITICS
CASE STUDY
What is the WTO?
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established and incorporated in January 1st 1995 at the amendment of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) in 1994 with the aim of regulating international trade. The creation of this organization clearly underscored the acceptance and commitment of trade liberalization by most of the international communities. Upon signing and ratifying the WTO Agreement, each member state of the WTO committed itself through a series of agreements to ultimately liberalize its trade in goods, services and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. Each member state signed the WTO Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes as well as the Agreement relating to the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).   This action required member states to periodically subject their national trade and economic policies for examination to ensure that their respective mandates are in keeping with the WTO's commitments. (Strategic Plan of the Foreign Trade Division 2002).

The historical timeline of trade purports that world trade has been ‘victim of abuse' by subjection towards high tariffs in the era of the 1930s. The expansion of trade has often played a significant role in the growth of the global economy since World War II, but it was not until the commencement of trade negotiations in the Uruguay Round in 1986, that multilateral trade deals tended to be limited to that of industrial countries.   While developing countries benefited significantly from the growth in global trade, they were rarely active participants in the bargaining process (Economic Issues Vol....