World Trade Organization (wto)

World Trade Organization (WTO) recognized on January 1, 1995 is the successor organization to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was established in 1947 with the idea of encouraging the world to participate in international trade with its member countries. GATT was able to accomplish this by giving guidelines for international trade and prompting countries to lower trade tariffs. The last GATT discussions, known as the Uruguay round which lasted from 1986-1994 is what led to the beginning and establishment of the WTO. When we briefly went over GATT and the Uruguay round as a class we discussed how the WTO was started to guide and regulate trade agreements, settling international disputes, and aide developing countries. The reason for writing this paper is to examine and learn the position of the WTO in todays world. By first introducing and learning a bit more about the organization. Discussing the three main duties of the WTO that we talked about in class. Then lastly present and discuss some opposing views.

As of Feb 17, 2011 the WTO consist of 153 member countries. The World Trade Organization is also involved in over 90% of international trade today. As mentioned on their website "The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exports, and importers, conduct their business." The WTO, World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are all international organizations that regulate financial exchanges between countries. The World Trade Organization is also what replaced GATT in 1994 as the organization overseeing the multilateral trading system.