Wto Essay

The World Trade Organization or WTO, is an international organization and its chief function is to open trade in order to benefit all countries in membership. According to the WTO’s website, “The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.” Established on January 1, 1995, the WTO remains the only global international organization which deals with the rules of trade between nations. The goal of the WTO is to improve the welfare of the member countries by aiding the producers of goods and services, importers and exporters, and conducting trade between nations. The WTO headquarters is located in Geneva,

The WTO followed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT, which began after World War II in 1948 (“World Trade Organization”). The WTO changed over from the GATT through a series of trade negotiations, also known as rounds. The first rounds were in regards to tariff reductions and the later rounds included other areas, such as anti-dumping and tariff measures. The last round, known as the Uruguay round, lasted from 1986 through 1994 and led to the creation of the World Trade Organization. The Uruguay round remains the most comprehensive international trade agreement in history as it took more than seven years to negotiate and represented 117 countries (“World Trade Organization”). Because of this, the World Trade Organization was established in order to facilitate the new comprehensive agreement known as the Final Act, as well as handle future negotiations. Not only, does the WTO facilitate the Final Act, but there are countless other duties and functions it

Patrick Low wrote in the article titled, "Potential Future Functions of the World Trade Organization” that in the Foreword to the WTO’s World Trade Report 2007, WTO director-general Pascal Lamy wrote: “As an institution we legislate and litigate, and I believe we do this reasonably well. But is there something of a ‘missing middle’ where we should be engaged more in fostering dialogue that can bolster cooperation?” There is always room for improvement and growth and the ability to learn from past negotiations and mistakes. By doing so, maybe some of the WTO’s disadvantages and challenges can turn into advantages and successes. One important factor that the WTO will continue to do in the future, as it has been over the past 20 years, is helping to pull millions of people out of poverty in many developing