World Trade Organization Case Study

Name: Shane Cunningham Assignment: HW 2

1) What is the WTO? Where is the WTO headquartered, who makes up the WTO and how many are there? How was the WTO established; what preceded the WTO and by what "mechanism" was it established? The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The WTO is made up of two agreements which are negotiated and signed by the majority of the world’s trading nations. The main purpose is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business on a global scale. (World Trade Organization, 2015)

The WTO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and currently consists 161 members (as of April 26,

All of the governments that had originally signed GATT were officially known as ‘GATT contracting parties’. On January 1, 1995, the GATT was updated and from that point on became known as the WTO agreements and the GATT members became the first official “WTO members”. (World Trade Organization, 2015)

2) Why was there a "need" for the WTO’s predecessor, and by extension the WTO itself? In other words, what "problem(s)" was it created to solve? How does the WTO aim to achieve its mission or purpose; i.e. its role?

The GATT grew primarily from a need to reduce or eliminate global tariffs after WWII and oversee the multilateral trading system between multiple countries. After the WTO was created it expanded this role to include lowering trade barriers and become the mediator of global trading disputes and the WTO aims to achieve its goals by non-discrimination, being predictable and transparent, allowing for more competition by discouraging unfair practices, providing assistance to help developing countries, and by protecting the environment, public health, animal health and plant health as much as possible through its

What is the name given to resolving disputes within the WTO? Diagram, with comments, the general process for resolving disputes within the WTO.

When disputes occur between parties over issues covered by the WTO, any member county of the WTO can request action within the WTO. The name given for resolving disputes is the Uruguay Round agreement. Settling disputes is the responsibility of the Dispute Settlement Body, which consists of all WTO members. The Dispute Settlement Body monitors the implementation of the rulings, recommendations, appeals, and has the power to authorize a response when a country does not comply with a ruling.

Per the WTO website (https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/disp1_e.htm), the process for resolving disputes within the WTO are quoted below:

First stage: consultation (up to 60 days). Before taking any other actions the countries in dispute have to talk to each other to see if they can settle their differences by themselves. If that fails, they can also ask the WTO director-general to mediate or try to help in any other