The WTO: An Utne Field Guide

Everything you need to know about the World Trade Organization

Proponents call the World Trade Organization the solution to global poverty and the key to Third World development. Detractors say it's an enemy of democracy and a corporate tool. Heated rhetoric aside, there's little doubt that in the decade since it was founded, the WTO has had a greater impact on the global economy than any other institution. Besides knowing that activists broke windows and got tear-gassed in Seattle protesting against it in 1999, however, most people don't really know what the WTO is or why it's so important to so many. As the world's trade ministers prepare for the next WTO meeting in Hong Kong December 13 to 18, we present a field guide to the global trading system, the issues that will be on the agenda, and the players who are wrangling over the future of the global economy. -- The Editors

Nonagricultural market access, bilateral free-trade agreements, tariff-reduction coefficients, sensitive products and special safeguard mechanisms, negotiating modalities, non-tariff barriers . . .

Is your head spinning yet? Don't feel bad. World Trade Organization rules and regulations are not meant for the average citizen. They're written by and for lawyers, economists, academics, businesspeople, and government officials fluent in an arcane language that makes everyone else's eyes glaze over. Hidden behind all the jargon is a host of powerful players who make decisions that affect families, communities, the environment, and basic human rights around the globe.

The WTO was established in 1995 to succeed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a multilateral body conceived in 1944, along with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, at the Bretton Woods summit on rebuilding the global economy after World War II. While GATT encouraged voluntary agreements between countries to reduce import duties and increase trade, the WTO empowered its 148 member states to create a set of global trade rules negotiated during regular rounds of closed-door negotiations and enforceable through economic sanctions.