World Trade Organization (WTO)
세계무역기구 (WTO)
The international trade organisation that succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on 1 January 1995. Created as the outcome of the Uruguay Round of 1986–94, it provides the framework for negotiating trade agreements covering goods, services and intellectual property, and settles trade disputes among its members. It is headquartered in Geneva and has 166 members.
In depth
The WTO came into being on 1 January 1995 under the Uruguay Round agreements reached by 123 countries at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994. It turned GATT, which had remained a "provisional" agreement for almost half a century, into a formal international organisation, realising in updated form the International Trade Organization that had failed in 1948. The GATT text survived, as modified by GATT 1994, as part of the WTO agreements.
The biggest difference from GATT is enforceability. Under GATT a member could block a dispute ruling; WTO members must accept dispute settlement as exclusive and compulsory, and members that break the rules can be punished. Its scope also widened to services and intellectual property. The Doha ministerial conference of 2001 approved China's entry and launched the Doha Development Round, but the negotiations stalled, and the Appellate Body for dispute settlement has been paralysed.
Economic studies generally find that the WTO has boosted trade and reduced trade barriers. Critics argue that the benefits of free trade are not shared equally, that its agreements may disadvantage developing countries, and that commercial interests have been put before environmental and labour concerns. Ha-Joon Chang points to a "paradox": developing countries grew faster in 1960–80 than in 1980–2000, though their trade policies were far more liberal in the later period, and argues that trade liberalisation does not guarantee growth.