An Analysis of the Wto Communication

Seven years of trade negotiations at last gave birth to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the U.S. labor movement was one of its leading skeptics. A world trade organization, labor supporters argued, would only accelerate the headlong rush to laissez-faire by dismantling national regulations. It would overwhelm attempts by nations to defend living standards and the ability of unions to fight for wages and health and safety laws—and it would make it harder for nations to defend the rights of workers to join unions. Labor lobbied hard against the WTO. But now, ironically, the WTO could become a critical venue for advancing workers' rights worldwide. For the WTO has the power to review

As globalization has created more of a demand for international rule-making bodies, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has become the premier forum for creating international trade rules and handling disputes amongst nations. GATT 1947, a multilateral treaty that promoted international trade and the reduction of trade barriers, was replaced by the WTO during the 8th round of multilateral trade negotiations in 1994 (known as the Uruguay Round). However, the trade pacts negotiated under GATT 1947 did not just disappear. The WTO Agreement in essence established a necessary legal framework to bring together the various deals that were negotiated under GATT 1947. The WTO thus serves four basic functions: To bring structure and order to world trade, to eliminate all trade barriers

medium for vendors of goods to trade to other countries. Without the WTO it would be

     The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. 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 World Trade Organization exists to ensure that trade between nations flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. It provides and regulates the legal issues which governs world trade now .

WTO was born out of the negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on 15th April 1994, aiming at cover the shortages of GATT. GATT, the product of international free trade, is the predecessor of WTO, which was an intergovernmental agreement about the rules of tariffs and trade signed on 30th October 1947. However, it had been an interim agreement but not a formal international institution since it came into force, which had hugely limited its processes of executions. Firstly, it lacked of legal binding and powerful measures. Secondly, the interim agreement had some grey area, which cause the agreement could not be implemented accurately. Finally, GATT discriminated different social systems. With eight multilateral tariff and trade negotiations

The function of the WTO is to promote international trade liberalization by eliminating trade barriers. It is believed that if countries are freely available to trade there will be more wealth and efficiency as each country will specialize on its forte. However, developed countries want trade barriers in order to protect their economies.

The WTO has not only enhanced the value and quantity of trade but has also assisted in eradicated trade and non-trade barriers. WTO has also broadened the trade governance scope to trade in investment, services and intellectual property. It has emerged as a greater organization than GATT and expanded the agenda by including developmental policies which further helped in settlement of disputes and improved monitoring by introducing the Trade Policy Review and the World Trade Report as well as increased transparency by removing green room negotiations.

Moreover, it is a member-driven organization which nearly always works on a consensus basis. As an international organization it has a sound and accountable legal basis because all WTO members have ratified the WTO Agreements. [International Marketing: An Introduction]

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded in 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round. The WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). So while it is still young, the multilateral trading system that was originally set up under GATT is well over 50 years old. The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations, or rounds, held under GATT. The goal of WTO “is to improve the welfare of the peoples of the member countries”. The WTO has a number of principles, which are the foundation of the multilateral trading system.

147). Such standards are aimed at enforcing the adherence to WTO agreements by trading countries that have signed and ratified the WTO agreement. Most issues dealt with by the WTO derive from previous trade negotiations such as the Uruguay Round (1986–1994). All measures are taken with the view of raising standards of living and ensuring full employment (Brown 200, p. 971). To achieve its objectives, it undertakes a series of trade liberalizing agreements reached on consensus from the WTO 's members forming the General Council.

Trade prior to the introduction of GATT and the WTO had many shortfalls. There was an ongoing disgruntlement between countries that were developed and countries that were not, and their ability to trade with each other. In order to remedy this, the GATT was introduced. After the GATT had its run, the WTO was created to replace and improve off of what was previously in place. That being said, the WTO, too, had its tribulations.

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).

These points of contention have hindered any progress to launch new WTO negotiation(s) beyond the Doha Development Round. As a result of this impasse, there has been an increasing amount of bilateral free trade agreements. WTO's current Director-General is Pascal Lamy, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, Switzerland. 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

Exports and imports are the lifeblood of international trade, a trade system that was once a system of anarchy. Now the World Trade Organization (WTO) governs the trade of almost one hundred-seventy member nations. The WTO is a permanent global institution that “covering services, intellectual property and investment issues as well as pure merchandise trade.” (Ravenhill 423) It evolved from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) after the result of the Uruguay round in 1994 and the passing of the “Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization Act” becoming an international organization that monitors international trade. (Piewitt 66) The World Trade Organization has been a success so far with a roster of around one hundred and seventy-member nations and said member nations following trade agreements and case polices. The reason why it is important for member nations of the WTO to follow the social contract of the organization is that the WTO works on members honesty. The WTO lacks the ability to force its member nations to comply to the rules and rulings on trade. Such a dependence on members’ trust is a legacy of the Bretton Woods systems of international organizations after the second world war; yet, nations are ration actors and they see the WTO as a benefit to their nations wealth and continuous success.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January