World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) website defines itself as an organization as “born out of negotiations”. The WTO of today was created on January 1, 1995 and is comprised of 153 countries as of February 2011. The WTO’s mission statement centers around 3 agreements between its members: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (WTO, 2012). The WTO also serves the function of settling disputes between members and reviewing trade policy to ensure fairness and equity for all members. When our group chose this topic there were split in our opinions of whether the WTO should be abolished. There were sentiments among the group members that the negotiating style and methodology of the WTO was too cumbersome and bureaucratic to achieve decisions that were in the best interest of all parties involved. Other members of the group felt that the WTO is still a valid organization that offers small countries a voice when negotiating with larger more capable nations. The following narrative will outline the most compelling arguments for and against abolishment of the WTO.
The negotiating style of the WTO is multilateral, which can be very time consuming and increase the difficulty for the parties involved to reach a deal. The nations involved in the negotiating have different interest while all parties have different productivity and limited resources. It can be extremely time consuming to reach a deal among the countries and as the number of parties involved increases the time spent also can increase. For Instance, in November 2008, Brazil filed an Anti-Dumping dispute against the United States on imported orange juice from Brazil. Brazil claimed the United States had violated anti-dumping agreements between 2005-2008. A panel was assigned by the organization to review the dispute. The panel concluded their report and circulated it
The negotiating style of the WTO is multilateral, which can be very time consuming and increase the difficulty for the parties involved to reach a deal. The nations involved in the negotiating have different interest while all parties have different productivity and limited resources. It can be extremely time consuming to reach a deal among the countries and as the number of parties involved increases the time spent also can increase. For Instance, in November 2008, Brazil filed an Anti-Dumping dispute against the United States on imported orange juice from Brazil. Brazil claimed the United States had violated anti-dumping agreements between 2005-2008. A panel was assigned by the organization to review the dispute. The panel concluded their report and circulated it
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