The World Trade Organization (WTO) turns 25 this Monday (15.4.2019) with the challenge of adapting the trade system to the XNUMXst century and the threat of new protectionist tensions such as the United States' tariff war against the European Union (EU) and China and Brexit or the United Kingdom's exit from the community club.
These are some of the key aspects of the WTO since 1994:
What is the WTO?
The WTO is a multilateral instrument that regulates international trade and a forum for negotiating exchanges between the 164 member countries that seeks to contribute to global economic growth.
The pillars on which it rests are the WTO Agreements, which have been negotiated and signed by the vast majority of countries participating in world trade.
It constituted the largest reform of international trade since the end of the Second World War (1945), and has an institutional rank equivalent to that of the Bretton Woods institutions: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).
The act of its foundation, the Uruguay Round Agreements, was signed in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on April 15, 1994. It came into force with its constitution in Geneva on January 1, 1995.
What is your background?
The WTO is the successor to the GATT, or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which was signed in 1947 and had 23 founding members. The GATT began operating on 1 January 1948 in the form of annual conferences and rounds of trade negotiations.
The GATT agreements were not binding on governments and applied to trade in goods, whereas the WTO is a global institution that includes this agreement and thirteen others, which also covers trade in goods.
It thus incorporates a General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and another on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The WTO declares itself the heir of the GATT, its working methods and its mechanism for settling disputes.
How many members does it have?
Headquartered in Geneva, the WTO currently comprises 164 countries, representing 98% of international trade, following the accession of Liberia and Afghanistan in 2016.
Of the 124 countries that signed the Marrakech Act, 76 ratified it before it came into force (including the United States, Canada, Japan and the EU countries).
which are your principal functions?
Its main objective is to help trade flow with "fluidity, freedom, equity and predictability," according to the multilateral organization.
It also seeks to reduce trade barriers, such as import tariffs, and agreements on issues such as subsidies and dumping.
It oversees the trade policies of its members and the resolution of disputes relating to trade between them through the Integrated Dispute Settlement System and a Trade Policy Review Mechanism for all its members.
What is your budget?
The WTO's budget amounted to US$197 million in 2018, obtained from contributions from its 164 members and other miscellaneous income.
What sectors does it cover?
The WTO regulates trade in goods and services and intellectual property rights with very few exceptions.
Some sectors, such as agriculture and textiles, have been part of the WTO since its inception, while others, such as telecommunications and financial services, were incorporated later.
The organisation notes that its areas of work are "as varied as the issues related to cross-border trade" in the world, and range from trade and the environment to agriculture, market access, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, investment measures and trade in services.
What is the most important governing body?
The highest authority in the WTO structure is the Ministerial Conference, made up of representatives from all countries and with biannual meetings.
Since the first Conference, in Singapore (1996), to the most recent one, in Argentina (2017), 11 meetings have been held.
Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevedo has been the head of the WTO since 2013, when he replaced Frenchman Pascal Lamy.
Other members of the organisation have been the Thai Supachai Panitchpakdi, the New Zealander Mike Moore and the Italian Renato Ruggiero.
¿What are the most relevant trade disputes managed by the WTO?
The WTO has a strengthened Dispute Settlement Mechanism, with the capacity to establish dispute settlement panels, submit matters in dispute to arbitration, adopt reports from those panels or, among others, monitor the implementation of the recommendations and rulings of those reports.
The WTO has mediated in international trade disputes such as the banana war, brought by Central American banana producers against the EU, which has also faced other complaints over its sugar export subsidies, or the dispute between Brazil and the United States over its cotton subsidies, among others.
What is the Doha Round?
The Doha Round, whose first conference was held in the eponymous city of Qatar in 2001, is a negotiation forum promoted by the WTO itself for the liberalization of world trade, improving the trade of developing countries by reducing tariffs and subsidies in the agricultural sector.
Until 2008, negotiations were held with expectations of an agreement, but since then the negotiations have been paralysed by differences between the partners on issues relating to trade, but also on financing and the environment. The last meeting, which ended without an agreement, was held in Buenos Aires in December 2017.
What criticisms does the WTO face?
The WTO has been criticised in recent years for losing its status as an effective mechanism for trade liberalisation following the failure of the Doha Round at its meeting in Buenos Aires.
In this regard, other organisations such as the G20 have demanded its reform. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has threatened to leave this institution if it does not improve its organisation.
It is also questioned by unions for omitting the social dimension of trade and, in their opinion, promoting job insecurity.
Source: Reuters
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