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Class Discussion Phase 3

Colorado Technical University

Instructor:

09/04/2014

1. What is the WTO, and what is its history?

WTO is the World trade Organization it was established on January 1, 1995 by the Uruguay Round negotiations that took place over the course of 1986-1994. 160 countries are members of the WTO. Its base of operations is located in Geneva Switzerland. It primary function is to administer the WTO agreements (WTO Disclaimer, 2014). It is the forum where trade negotiations are held handles trades disputes, monitors the national trade policies, and it also provides technical and training assistance for developing countries. The WTO goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business (WTO Disclaimer, 2014).

2. What are the benefits of being a member of the WTO?

Members are provided with a fair method to resolve trade disputes. Since 75% of the countries who are members are developing countries it truly benefits them (Economics Help, 2007). “Being a member means the nation automatically receives the Most Favored Nation status (WTO Disclaimer, 2014).” All members must treat each other the same and must not give preference to one country over the other in regards to trade benefits (Economics Help, 2007). What is done for one country must be done for other countries of the WTO equal treatment for all. Members of the WTO have lower trade barriers amongst each other this includes import quotas and tariffs as well as excessive regulations. This leads to greater sales and faster economic growth (WTO Disclaimer, 2014).

3. What are the disadvantages?

The disadvantages to membership in the WTO are that if a country is attempting to become more diverse in their production they will lack the proper tariff protections (Economics Help, 2007). Thus membership inevitably hinders developing countries from further developing their infant industries (WTO Disclaimer, 2014).

4. How does it settle disputes?

WTO brings both parties to counsel to see if in fact any of the agreements and or agreement articles has been broken. Then looks for resolutions and if necessary enforces agreements and articles.

Choose a recent dispute between 2 countries, and discuss it with your peers. Include the following:

· Summary of what happened

Complaint was made by the European Union against Respondent Russia. The initial complaint was filed on 8 April 2014. The complaint was that Russia adopted certain measures that eventually affected the import of live pigs and their genetic material such as pork products and other commodities from the European Union (WTO DISPUTE DS475, 2014). Russia argues it’s done so because of concerns relating to cases of African swine fever. The European Union thus petitioned for consultations with Russia concerning the new measures it adopted were inconsistent with WTO agreement articles (WTO DISPUTE DS475, 2014).

· How it was resolved

This is currently an on-going matter and a resolution has not been reached as of yet.

· Role played by the WTO

So far the WTO brought in third party countries to sit on a panel to handle the dispute.

· Do you agree with the resolution?

The have revisited the issue twice forming a governing panel and collecting more information. I believe currently they are on the right path to reaching a resolution on the current dispute at hand.

References