Globalization: A Free Trade Phenomenon Essay

The North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as the NAFTA, is a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico launched to enable North America to become more competitive in the global marketplace (Amadeo, 2011). The NAFTA is regarded as “one of the most successful trade agreements in history” for its impact on increases in agricultural trade and investment among the three contracting nations (North American Free Trade Agreement, 2011). Supporters and opponents of the NAFTA have argued the effects of the agreement on participating nations since its inception; yet, close examination proves that NAFTA has had a relatively positive impact on the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Globalization is the process by which different societies and cultures integrate through a worldwide network of political ideas through transportation, communication, and trade. Generally, globalization has affected many nations in various ways; economically, politically, and socially. It is a term that refers to the fast integration and interdependence of various nations, which shapes the world affairs on a global level. Simply put; globalization is the world coming together. In this essay I will discuss multiple perspectives on globalization through the analysis of these three sources.

A free trade agreement is a treaty between two or more countries to establish a free trade range where commerce in goods and services can be regulated across common borders, and without tariffs. An extensively recognized trade agreement is the European Union. The European Union has been advantageous by providing, safety, international mobility, employment mobility, residential mobility, and tax options. However, free trade agreements are not always beneficial. This paper will illustrate the negative impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the United States.

America gets its Barbie dolls, Star Wars action figures, skinny jeans, sneakers, and even our food, from exploitative companies like Mattel, Walmart, the Gap, Forever 21, Chiquita, and Chicken of the Sea. These companies thrive on free trade. Politicians may tout free trade as a helpful, futuristic plan, that will make America the greatest country in the world but there are many people in America that do not understand what free trade really entails.

In chapter 3, the process by which the WTO operates is described. Also, how the World Trade Organization originated, its history. Understanding how the WTO runs and operates is crucial to understanding how they as an organization impact the economy. The chapter discusses how when a country has a small economic quarrel with another country the WTO steps in. The rules and regulations by which the WTO follows impacts the outcome and decision of a panel, made up of high ranking WTO workers, that help to decide which country involved in the quarrel is right and which country is wrong.

Lastly, Fletcher goes through a series of arguments supporters of free trade make in order to show the futility of those against it. It is argued by those for free trade that those against it are stuck in the past, uneducated, that the United States has move past the need for unskilled labor, that large trade debt does not matter as it brings in investments and that offshoring of American jobs is minor and infrequent. To these arguments Fletcher points out that it is a lack of understanding by those in favor of free trade that leads to these myths.

The World Trade Organization is widely known as an organization that deals with free trade on an international level. Quoting from their website, “the World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the rules of trade between nations at a global or near-global level. But there is more to it than that.” (Source 1). In general to enter into the WTO, a country must meet certain criteria that deal with liberalization of trade policy. (Source 2? More like a general). As a member of the WTO, countries must adhere by rules and regulations set. In effect this liberalization is enforced to promote trade across all countries. To understand the effect that the WTO has on an economy, one must look at the different countries that are in it. In general there

Since the development of the Internet and other communication sharing technology, the push for free trade agreements, and the sustaining of a prolonged period of international peace, globalization has rapidly taken over political discourse and dealings. The emphasis, in recent decades, has been towards economic globalization with the push for international stock exchanges, and the development of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Economic globalization is the development of an interdependent and integrated global economy of independent nation’s economies. It occurs through the development of cross-border movement of technology, capital, labour, services, and products. Economic globalization is a product of neo-liberal capitalist market values. The capitalist global economy has lead to an apparent improved global market however the burden of the economic nature of globalization has developed into a dilemma of environmental and ecological destruction. Economic globalization has increased consumption and consumerism, continued the domination of neo-colonialism through eco-imperialism, and dictated the discourse surrounding international environmental protocol and treaties.

The World Trade Organization was formed in 1995 replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was formed in 1948. For over forty years the GATT lead trade agreements and mainly tariffs agreements. The WTO was formed to settle conflicts between trade based under the principles of being non-discrimination, reciprocity, transparency and binding and enforceable commitments. Most trade conflict come around high tariffs on particular goods or goods that country’s think are potential dangerous. The WTO however has no actual power to enforce such ruling but relies on the larger more developed countries to enforce such rulings. Throughout the past 19 years there have been hundreds of cases brought to the attention of the WTO.

In recent years, The World Trade Organization trading system has playing a significant role in our nations. More and more nations have taken part in this organization for gaining a great benefit from trading between nations. WTO looks itself as a system that helps trade to flow smoothly and provide countries with a constructive and fair outlet for dealing with disputes over trade issues (WTO, 2008). However, there is a drawback for this system such as it does not claim to be a "free market" organization. According to the WTO, it is sometimes described as a free trade institution but that is not absolutely correct. The system does allow tariffs and in limited circumstances and other forms of protection. More exactly, it is a

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) exists to implement trade rules amongst the nations (Robbins & Coulter, 2009). Agreements are negotiated by member nations in ‘rounds’ – one being the gathering in Doha which commenced in 2001. Subjects discussed included eliminating agricultural export subsidies, reducing export barriers to developing countries, facilitating trade, combatting ‘dumping’ practices along with other topics (WTO, 2016). Negotiations were abandoned at the end of 2015 after having failed to reach agreement on many topics, risking rendering the WTO irrelevant (Donnan, 2015).

The world as we know it, is changing everyday at any given moment. This could be economies, cultures, religions, environments, etc. Yet, there is one term that has become greatly more popular in our generation. This would be globalization. Globalization is discussed about by many people even myself included, but do we really know what it further entails? Globalization has allowed many countries to come together and succeed in more efficient markets, wealth equality, and new solutions for all that are involved. Furthermore, we must analyze globalization, look at different arguments for and against it, and discover what purpose it’s trying accomplish across the world.

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.

Globalization is the process in which we as humanity are coming together to form a global economy around all sorts of different infrastructures. “The globalization process implies the incorporation of national economies, cultures, political systems and various identities of capitalist system which require the removal of all hurdles to cross-national interaction and exchange often created earlier by protectionist states” (Aamir, 1). Globalization is the greatest thing to happen to us as humans, we will form together instead of being pushed apart. Companies trade with each other from different countries, this allows a wider market for both participants and makes more jobs on both sides of the trade, giving economic structors for countries in poverty. This joining of countries will allow a hermans period of our history and become the beginning of a new age where we do not fight each other for resources but work together to gain more than land or wealth. Many are concerned that these changes will leave the poor behind to become dust in the wind, but there are many global institutions that are helping to keep this from happening. Some of these Institutions like the World Bank(WB) help by giving money to countries in poverty to allow them to grow and prosper like other countries and become part of this global phenomenon. Along with these Institutions, countries that are more fortunate are attempting to help the global trade process by creating promising treaties and methods of

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.