...The World Trade Organization (WTO) website defines itself as an organization as “born out of negotiations”. The WTO of today was created on January 1, 1995 and is comprised of 153 countries as of February 2011. The WTO’s mission statement centers around 3 agreements between its members: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (WTO, 2012). The WTO also serves the function of settling disputes between members and reviewing trade policy to ensure fairness and equity for all members. When our group chose this topic there were split in our opinions of whether the WTO should be abolished. There were sentiments among the group members that the negotiating style and methodology of the WTO was too cumbersome and bureaucratic to achieve decisions that were in the best interest of all parties involved. Other members of the group felt that the WTO is still a valid organization that offers small countries a voice when negotiating with larger more capable nations. The following narrative will outline the most compelling arguments for and against abolishment of the WTO. The negotiating style of the WTO is multilateral, which can be very time consuming and increase the difficulty for the parties involved to reach a deal. The nations involved in the negotiating have different interest while all parties have different productivity and limited resources. It...
Words: 2014 - Pages: 9
...The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. It is the only international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of the international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva). Virtually all decisions in the WTO are taken by consensus among all member countries and they are ratified by members' parliaments. Trade friction is channelled into the WTO's dispute settlement process where the focus is on interpreting agreements and commitments, and how to ensure that countries' trade policies conform with them. That way, the risk of disputes spilling over into political or military conflict is reduced. By lowering trade barriers, the WTO’s system also breaks down other barriers between peoples and nations. At the heart of the system — known as the multilateral trading system — are the WTO’s agreements, negotiated and signed by a large majority of the world’s trading nations, and...
Words: 734 - Pages: 3
...Introduction The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established January 1, 1995. Before WTO’s inception it was known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). However, GATT was not treaty, therefore “the provisions of GATT were binding only insofar as they are not inconsistent with a nation’s existing legislation” (Aaronson, n.d.). Many proponents of labor sometimes consider the WTO a very controversial organization. Many labor advocates feel that free trade has a negative impact on employment and the economy here in the United States. According the WTO website, “The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. Mission and Goal The mission of the WTO is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. What does all that really mean in plain English, the main function of the WTO is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. Structure and Architecture The WTO is comprised of several different councils and committees that make up its structure. Here are a list of the councils, and committees along with some of the responsibilities of each unit. The descriptions below are courtesy of 3.1 Structure of the World Trade Organization, Handbook. * The Ministerial Conference...
Words: 2949 - Pages: 12
...The World Trade Organization maintains a general agreement regarding tariffs and trade with its members. They believe that trade liberation leads to a better life for all. Countries set up tariffs to “give a price advantage to locally-produced goods over similar goods which are imported, and they raise revenues for governments”i. However it is more economic for countries to trade with one another the goods that they produce best. International trade liberation gives developing countries the opportunity to prosper and become more economically accountable. Every country has something that it can produce better, or make more efficiently than another. With zero trade barriers each country will be able to receive more goods at a higher quality, for a lower price. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade’s goal was to accomplish this, but was not as successful as the World Trade Organization. The WTO as it was the successor to GATTii was able to look at the problems GATT faced and made it so that the problems would not repeat. When GATT lowered tariffs, non-tariff barriers of trade went up; such things as technical barriers and importing licenses went up. Noticing this GATT decided to make more rules regarding the trade of goods to stop this problem, however only a few of its members signed its prospected agreements. Unlike the case with the GATT, all WTO Members automatically commit to all of the Agreements, whether they have to do with tariffs or not. Some of the other agreements...
Words: 784 - Pages: 4
...[pic]World Trade Organization [pic] The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994). The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain." The WTO has 153 members representing more than 97% of total world trade and 30 observers, most seeking membership...
Words: 4976 - Pages: 20
...Introduction to Economics I TRADE AGREEMENTS AND WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION PROFESSOR ASSISTANT STUDENTS Nataša Tandir Nedžad Isaković Sejid Abaz Sarajevo, December 2011. CONTENT Trade Agreements.......................................................................................................................... 3 Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements................................................................................. 3 Trade Agreements and Trading Blocks............................................................................... 3 Different types of trade agreements..................................................................................... 3 1. Free Trade Areas (FTA)........................................................................................... 3 2. Common Monetary Area (CMA)............................................................................. 5 3. Customs Union......................................................................................................... 5 4. Common Market...................................................................................................... 6 5. Monetary Union....................................................................................................... 6 6. Economic Union...................................................................................................... 7 World Trade Organization............................
Words: 2886 - Pages: 12
...The World Trade Organization Tina R. Sims ECO/212 4/6/2011 Tasha Thompson World Trade Organization (WTO) The World Trade organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At the heart are WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help Producers of goods and services, exporters and importers conduct their business. www.WTO.org. Some of the trade topics are Goods, Services intellectual property along with other topics. The topic of Services- The general agreement on trade in services (GATS), financial services, telecommunications, etc. includes analyses of service trade in service in the WTO. The (GATS) covers all services with a few exceptions. What I learn the most about this web site was basically everything but what I found most interesting is that the WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of negotiations. The bulk of the WTO’s current work comes from the 1986–94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO is currently the host to new negotiations, under the ‘Doha Development Agenda’ launched in 2001. Where countries have faced trade barriers and wanted them lowered, the negotiations have helped to open markets for trade. But the WTO...
Words: 265 - Pages: 2
... | MCMF13M038 M.com (Morning)4th Semester | [World trade organization] | Sir Zeeshan Akbar | What is World Trade Organization (WTO)? The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. History The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation – notably the Bretton Woods institutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A comparable international institution for trade, named the International Trade Organization was successfully negotiated. The ITO was to be a United Nations specialized agency and would address not only trade barriers but other issues indirectly related to trade, including employment, investment, restrictive business practices, and commodity agreements. But the ITO treaty was not approved by the U.S. and a few other signatories and never went into effect. In the absence of an international organization for trade, the GATT would over the years "transform itself" into a de facto international organization. Members 160 members since 26 June 2014, with dates...
Words: 1549 - Pages: 7
...Details: Name : Nyakeriga Bilha K. Student I/D : 621839 Course : IBA 4010 Lecturer : Dr. Simiyu Wambalaba Semester : Summer 2008 Term Paper – World Trade Organization (WTO) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 What is WTO? 1.2 History of WTO 1.3 Mission 1.4 The Structure of WTO 2.0 WTO SYSTEMS 11 3.0 CONITIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP 17 4.0 OBJECTIVES OF WTO 24 5.0 WTO DISPUTE RESOLUTION SYSTEM 27 5.1 Governing Principles 5.2 Stages Of Dispute Resolution 6.0 SUCCESS AND FAILURES OF WTO 29 7.0 WTO AND 3RD WORLD RELATED ISSUES 35 7.1 Who are the Least Developed Countries? 7.2 Who Are the Developing Countries? 7.3 Issues Relating to 3rd World Countries 7.4 Action Plan for the Least Developed Countries 8.0 CHALLENGES FACED BY WTO 42 8.1 Overloading the WTO 8.2 Decision Making 8.3 The role of overlapping unimplemented commitments from the Uruguay Round with new issues from the Doha Round 8.4 Regionalism 8.5 Eroding national sovereignty 8.6 Asymmetry between goods and service liberalization 8.7 Protecting intellectual property 8.8 Asymmetry between public and private trade restrictive Measures 8.9 Shooting at a moving target: Protectionism in disguise 8.10 Doha Development Agenda 8.11 A Healthy WTO 8.12 Timeliness and Politics...
Words: 17652 - Pages: 71
...Seydina Soumagal MNGT 101 10/17/12 World Trade Organization There are several of ways of focus at the world trade organization. The world trade organization deals with the global rules of trade between nations. It is the main function is to ensure that flows as smoothly predictable and freely as possible: commerce licensing, balance of payments, rules of origin. In few tape of world trade organization the most important thing is the rules. The world trade organization is run by the member of governments. All membership has the delegate (ambassador) in the membership counties. The world trade organization was born “1 January 1995, membership 157 countries in 24 August 2012 and the Budget : 196 million Swiss francs for 2011”. The rule is the heart of the world trade organization agreement, negotiated and signed by members of the world trade organization notions. These documents show the legal “ground-rules” for international commerce. There are most of essentially contract, binding governments to keep the laws within agreed limits. All negotiated and signed by governments it the goal to help services and goods by exporting and importing goods and services to others countries. The world trade is disputed by most of the countries not global ‘Multilateral”. It is the system operated by the world trade organization. Several countries are members of the system. The world trade organization issues “multilateral” also agreements (disputed and signed) with actions taken regional or...
Words: 275 - Pages: 2
...World Trade Organization Rhonda Bucasas MGT/448 September 17, 2014 Roy Brugman World Trade Organization What is the World Trade Organization? The World Trade Organization or WTO is the only global organization that handles with the regulations of trade between nations. There are two WTO agreements negotiated and signed by the majority of the world’s trading nations and approved in their parliaments. The main goal of the WTO is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business ("World Trade Organization", 2014). When was the WTO founded, its location, membership and budget? The WTO was founded on January 1, 1995. According to the history of the WTO the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations managed under the aegis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT led to the formation of the WTO in 1995. The location of the WTO is in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO has 160 members since June 26, 2014, 117 of which are developing countries or separate territories, and all members who have joined have done so due to negotiations. Membership signifies a balance of rights and obligations along with the same privileges as the other members. Membership also gives the security that the trading rules provide. The WTO’s budget for 2013 was $197,203,900.00 but is on average around $180 million. The WTO develops most of its income for the annual budget from contributions that come from its Members. Other income is made by rental...
Words: 497 - Pages: 2
...Vanessa Olmos MGT 3400-004 Professor Palma February 20, 2015 The World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global organization that was established on January of 1995. Its headquarters are in Geneva Switzerland. The WTO is one of the most influential international organizations that there is at the moment. The World Trade Organization deals with the rules of trade between nations and one of its main goals is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, importers conduct their business. There are 160 countries as of June 26, 2014 that are members of the WTO. One of the main functions of the WTO is to make sure that all the trade agreements and the declarations between its member’s countries are respected and when are told they need to do something they are doing it. The WTO also functions as a forum between its members so its members are able to talk about trade negotiations as well as it also helps them with any dispute resolution between different countries that are members of the WTO. WTO stands for The World Trade Organization in which like it was mentioned is an international organization where the members of this organization talk about trade negotiations. This organization is also a trade opening as well like it was also mentioned before it is where member governments talk about any disputes they have between other members of the organization in any sort of trade problems. Some of the problems that can be resolved in the WTO are that...
Words: 1010 - Pages: 5
...World Trade Organization: The art of a little give and take Historical Overview of the WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded in 1995 as the predecessor to the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The GATT was developed in 1947 on a provisional base after World War 2; it was not started as an international organization, but rather an inter-governmental treaty. Instead of being made up of participating members, such as the WTO, the GATT consisted of contracting parties. As stated in the preamble of the GATT-1947, the objectives of the contracting parties include ‘raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand ,developing the full use of the resources of the world and expanding the production and exchange of goods’(GATT, 1994a: 486). It continues by stating that reciprocal and mutually advantageous arrangements involving a substantial reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade as well as the elimination of discriminatory treatment in international trade will contribute to the realization of these objectives. So in short the role of the GATT, was (and still is) to facilitate the reduction of barriers of trade and ensure greater equality with respect to conditions of market access for contracting parties. Through the negotiations made by the original 23 countries of the GATT, with additions of over 50 countries, came the charter for the International Trade Organization...
Words: 2672 - Pages: 11
...rest of the world, like the population counter located on the website homepage. There is an entire section on the site devoted to International Trade which includes a guide to foreign trade, foreign trade products, and recent news about the US export and import statistics and regulations. Within this section is the US Census Global Reach Blog where they post about hot topics and prevailing current issues in foreign trade, sometimes reposting from the US Census Director’s Blog as well. A recent post, summarized the month over month increase in the US Goods and Services Deficit, rising $6.5 billion in August to reach $48.3 billion (census.gov). I like this format for the information because it makes it easy for the average person to understand international trade issues since it is not written in a report but rather a concise, simple summary of information. Another interesting item with the Global Reach Blog is the webinar section which lists webinars held by the International Trade University which summarizes Foreign Trade Regulations as well as offering how-to guides and resources to help individuals be able to understand and use the information provided. A calendar is provided to outline when each webinar is as well as the topics. The webinars are free to watch which encourages people to be able to easily access and use the information, again making it more accessible for everyone. World Trade Organization (https://www.wto.org/) The World Trade Organization is an international...
Words: 633 - Pages: 3
...The World Trade Organization is the only international organization that handles the global regulations of trade between all nations. Its main purpose is to make sure that all trade has a smooth transition as freely as allowed by law. This gives piece of mind to all the consumers and producers around the world. This organization provides a safe and secure gateway for all its members’ and their markets. The rules and decisions made by the WTO are upheld throughout the WTO members’ countries. If a dispute should arise then the WTO will carefully weigh the agreements and commitments to ensure the trade policies are followed completely. This deters off any political or military conflict that may come from an escalation o disagreement. The trade barriers open new relationships between all members’ nations. Each member’s country that belongs to the WTO is asked to sign a contract that spells out all trade agreements and this contract must be accepted and ratified by that member’s government. This contract gives the member certain trade rights that are recognized by all other member countries. The ultimate reason this is done is to guarantee all governments the same trade rights to all produces of goods and services, exports, and importers. The ultimate goal is to improve the welfare of people in the countries of WTO members. There are several trade topics available to read about on the WTO website. The one that stands out to me is the goods section. This section covers anything...
Words: 413 - Pages: 2
