The World Trade Organization 's Agenda And Implementation Of Its Agreements

Weeks, R. (2006). International trade issues. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc..World Bank.org. (November, 2011). Globalization and international trade (Chapter12, pp.

To facilitate these relations between nations, the globalized economies require a dynamization of trade and social relations, intensifying the flow of goods and services. A number of international agreements were created for this purpose. These groups discuss measures to reduce and / or eliminate tariffs, promoting the expansion of trade relations between member countries.

Globalization has become one of the most influential forces in the twentieth century. International integration of world views, products, trade and ideas has caused a variety of states to blur the lines of their borders and be open to an international perspective. The merger of the Europeans Union, the ASEAN group in the Pacific and NAFTA in North America is reflective of the notion of globalized trade. The North American Free Trade Agreement was the largest free trade zone in the world at its conception and set an example for the future of liberalized trade. The North American Free Trade Agreement is coming into it's twentieth anniversary on January 1st, 2014. 1 NAFTA not only sought to enhance the trade of goods and services across

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global organization that helps countries and producers of goods deal fairly and smoothly with conducting their business across international borders. It mainly does this through WTO agreements, which are negotiated and signed by a large majority of the trading nations in the world. The purpose of the WTO is to ensure that global trade commences freely, smoothly and predictably while also aiming to create economic peace and stability in the world through a multilateral system. This is based and applied to member states, currently 162 countries, that have consented and ratified the rules of the WTO in their individual countries. Simply put, these documents act as contracts that provide the legal framework for conducting business among nations, integrating into a country 's domestic legal system, therefore, applying to local companies and nationals in the conduct of business internationally. For instance, if a company were to open an office or business in a foreign country, the rules of the WTO dictates how that can be done.1

Although multinational corporations and international trade institutions are the subject of criticism, not all observers share a negative perspective. Many commentaries are published which speak in favor of beneficial and positive accomplishments, especially in relation to the international institutions. For instance, free trade positively contributes to overall development of the world. Global free trade promotes global economic growth, it creates jobs, makes companies more competitive, and lowers

When it comes to the political set up of the international organizations that positively and negatively affects poorer nations can be classified in realist’s point of view as powerful nations lobbying the international organizations to pass their agenda that affects smaller countries in the interests of promoting national hegemonic power. As a results, of this, regardless of the debts accumulated by powerful international organization’s veto power, they are still on top of the average poor nation because of its political hegemonic power and influence over International Organizations. The economic policies set by hegemonic powers to be passed down to the small nations by the international organizations sometimes keep them on the hook of a

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established on January 1, 1995 and is the most powerful trade body in the world. It has 133 member nations and 33 nations with observer status who have applied for membership. (Americanlands) On behalf of its members the WTO "promotes, monitors and adjudicates international trade" (Goldstein 378) in order to establish a free trade system. It covers every field of economic and social endeavors, including: textiles, agriculture, clothing, telecommunications, banking, government purchases, food sanitation regulations, services, industrial standards and intellectual property. (Americanlands) Although this organization is seemingly beneficial, like all

The principle of special economic needs for the least developed countries (LCDs) was recognized in the GATT 1965, where the preferential treatment of such countries in matters of trade, tariffs and other legal measures was deemed a necessary vehicle to both trade liberalizations and also for enhancing the economic development of the LCDs (Mckenzie, 2005). Consequently, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has recognized the need for the preferential treatment of the developing countries in matters of trade as provided for under the Article I:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), targeting the most-favoured-nations (MFN) (GATT, 1979). Therefore, the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulatory context relevant in this case goes back to the Generalized System of Preferences as established under the Enabling clause of the GATT, allowing for the preferential treatment of the developing countries over their developed counterparts in matters of trade relationships (EC, 2004). The relevant legal issue is whether the recent change in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) as developed by Solia are in violation of Article I and Article II of the GAAT of 1994.

Literature on the first category takes a motivational approach to explain trade agreements, emphasizing countries’ interests behind their settlement. Secondly, the literature focuses on the political settings and relations affecting trade agreements, which include domestic politics and the involvement of a country in other trade agreements. Lastly, the literature discusses the level of economic development of the countries involved and its implications to trade agreements.

This report addresses different types of trade used internationally. It will discuss trade agreements e.g. NAFTA, TPP, and the effect they have had on individual countries. It will also focus on the WTO and their role in international trade. There has been significant secondary research in order to write this report such as reading articles, blogs and speeches.

However, there seem to be disagreements on China’s position and performance in the WTO in the future. It is being said that China’s view on the WTO’s multilateral trade system is ambiguous. Furthermore China is blamed for being irresponsible when it comes to maintaining he international order and global economic governance. According to Rafael Leal-Arcas, 2010, China has been playing at best a passive role and, at worst, a disruptive role with respect to the global trading system. “China would be broken, and a broken China could break the WTO. Therefore, the WTO’s most difficult challenge may be to discipline trade relations among China and other WTO members. All WTO members should work collectively to encourage China to change its behavior.” By so doing, they may promote the development of the WTO. (Susan Ariel Aaronson, 2010)

A lot has changed in the world economic scenario over the past 25 years. World trade has increased from $8.7 trillion in 1990 to over $46 trillion in 2014 (Global Economic Prospects 2016: 219). These numbers reflect a growth in the trade of goods and services amongst different nations, which came as a result of globalization. With that being said, an economic interdependence has been formed. Countries that have been actively participating in this phenomenon by joining trade agreements, eliminating tariffs, and facilitating commerce have highly benefited from this transformation. On the other hand, nations that have isolated themselves from these opportunities through protectionist policies, have been negatively impacted. Members involved in these trading blocs gain a competitive edge over those who opted to stay out. Brazil serves as a good example of the negative effects that adapting a protectionist policy may have on a nation 's economy. The country has access to a vast amount of primary resources, including soy beans, oil, sugar cane, iron ore, coffee, and orange juice. Nonetheless, its exports account for a mere 11.2% of its GDP, in comparison to the world average, which in 2015, amounted for a total of 29.3% (World Bank Group, 2016). One of the main reasons for the disparity between these numbers is given by the lack of free trade in the government 's foreign policies. This paper will closely examine two trade agreements in an effort to compare and contrast the

International trade is an often-vexing field of study. The breadth of its scope, and the multitude of political, socio-economic, and strategic components that influence its inputs and outputs, can seem staggeringly huge, frustrating attempts to narrow in on and accurately study a select topic. One commonly observed trend is that of economic globalization, the phenomenon wherein countries’ economic situations, bolstered by increased international economic cooperation, can become significantly dependent on other countries. Despite its seemingly inexorable nature, however, globalization - and international economic cooperation in general - is not a fixed variable in international affairs, nor has it ever been. Many kinds of factors play a large role in determining the success or failure of efforts to organize international cooperation. On the domestic level, these chiefly consist of public influence and economic and developmental circumstances, while on the international level, factors including state sovereignty and political systems and institutions are highly influential. The worldwide existence of domestic sector-inclined protectionist tendencies and international competitiveness, each to various degrees, will undoubtedly continue in the future; however, the interconnectedness of international economic cooperation, bolstered by international institutions,

Developed nations trumpet the claim that the answer to developing nations’ international trade issues is untrammeled or open market activity as opposed to government intervention by developed nations’ governments. This begs the question as to what extent the governments of developed nations are or should be responsible for supporting developing countries’ growth in international trading markets. Often the protectionist actions of developed nations’ governments to enhance their own international trading activities are the very hindrances faced by the developing countries, so much so that the developed nations are morally obligated to support the developing countries to offset the roadblocks created by these same developed countries with tariffs, quotas and other trade barriers.

In international economy, trade agreement was made to gain fairness between the involved countries. Thus, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is established to protect these agreements and serves consequences for those who violate the agreement. Dumping is one of the examples of violation of the agreements. WTO defined dumping as imported goods in the market of the importing country with price less than its normal value (Trewin&Bosworth 1999, p.134). From one perspective, to protect local producers from dumping, the government imposes anti-dumping measures on imported goods. From another perspective, the anti-dumping measures will cause less incentive for local producers to produce efficiently; thus, it is important to avoid using