Definition Case

Definition - For the definition, I decided to give a little background, along with what the World Trade Organization. "The World Trade Organization oversees the drafting and implementation of rules for global trade in goods and services. It started operation in 1995, but is essentially a stronger version of its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT." (Bradsher, 2009). In other words, it is the main international organization that helps promote trade by introducing the policies and guidelines that will govern it.

Summary - The article I read was on the Global Issues website about the World Trade Organization. I found this page to be the most informative about the organization, besides going to their website. In this online article, I talks about the origins of the WTO and after the Uruguay Round of talks, it succeeded the GATT. The WTO differs from GATT in the respect that it not only deals with trade in goods but services, agriculture and intellectual property. As with any organization that deals this far worldwide, there are some downfalls to their system as viewed by outside entities, such as 3rd world countries and other interest groups. These bodies claim that the WTO does not allow enough public participation while being very accepting of large corporations. They have also been said to put certain types of barriers to free trade, even though the goods may be against national policy, such as genetically enhanced foods or milk. According to the article, a number of countries have said their needs to be more cooperation between rich and developing countries.

Discussion - I believe that this article relates to the assigned reading because it gives a background as to how business between organizations and some foreign countries function with each other. The World Trade Organization has the most to do with the key concepts that are listed for Unit 1. It deals with the interdependencies among nations, transparency among nations, top U.S.A. global trading partners as well as global business. The WTO is also a "driving force" in the reduction in barriers of trade. However, after reading articles on them, there is a possibility that the international business trade could be just as stable without them, without the loop holes.

References

Bradsher, K. (2009, August 23). World Trade Organization. The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/world_trade_organization/index.html

Shah, A. (2007, July 2). The WTO and Free Trade. Global Issues. Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://www.globalissues.org/article/42/the-wto-and-free-trade

World Trade Organization (n.d.). Understanding the WTO. World Trade Organization Website. Retrieved August 21, 2012, from http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/what_we_do_e.htm