World Trade Organization is the Way to Go Essay -- Commerce GATT Argum

World Trade Organization is the Way to Go Ever since man has been engaged in international commerce, trade disputes have existed. Adam Smith observed trade disputes over 220 years ago in The Wealth of Nations. In Smith’s eyes, if a trading partner imposed restrictions on your exports, then you had the right to retaliate and impose restrictions on their imports. He felt that unilateral trade dispute settlement was the right thing to do. However, Smith's answer to settling trade disputes was shortsighted. In an era where his home country, England, was the superpower of its time, Smith could not foresee the creation of an international organization to regulate trade and commerce around the world. With the creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the world is capable of handling trade disputes between nations. The creation of the WTO and its improvements upon the GATT framework have proven that trade disputes are better settled thr ough a multilateral system and not unilaterally. The creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 was a step in the right direction for handling trade disputes. At that time there was no international dispute settlement system in effect. Countries handled disputes either bilaterally or unilaterally. However, the GATT dispute settlement system was rather weak and not used effectively. More than often countries abused it or simply ignored it. Even with these faults, the GATT provided a strong foundation for the WTO to be built upon after the Uruguay Round. The United States took advantage of the weakness of the GATT dispute settlement system use its own unilateral methods to handle di... ... January 1998. "Explaining Patterns of GATT/WTO Trade Complaints." Working Paper. Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Available at: https://wwwc.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/wps/sec01/sec01.html Smith, Adam. 1776 (1981 reprint). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. Valihora, Michael S. Spring/Summer 1998. "NAFTA Chapter 19 or the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body: A Hobson’s Choice for Canada?" Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. Volume 30 Numbers 2, 3, pages 447-487. World Trade Organization. February 1998. "Case Study—The Timetable in Practice." Available at http://www.wto.org/wto/about/dispute3.htm World Trade Organization. February 1998. WTO, "Settling Disputes: The WTO’s ‘most individual contribution’" Available at: http://www.wto.org/wto/about/dispute1.htm World Trade Organization is the Way to Go Essay -- Commerce GATT Argum World Trade Organization is the Way to Go Ever since man has been engaged in international commerce, trade disputes have existed. Adam Smith observed trade disputes over 220 years ago in The Wealth of Nations. In Smith’s eyes, if a trading partner imposed restrictions on your exports, then you had the right to retaliate and impose restrictions on their imports. He felt that unilateral trade dispute settlement was the right thing to do. However, Smith's answer to settling trade disputes was shortsighted. In an era where his home country, England, was the superpower of its time, Smith could not foresee the creation of an international organization to regulate trade and commerce around the world. With the creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the world is capable of handling trade disputes between nations. The creation of the WTO and its improvements upon the GATT framework have proven that trade disputes are better settled thr ough a multilateral system and not unilaterally. The creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 was a step in the right direction for handling trade disputes. At that time there was no international dispute settlement system in effect. Countries handled disputes either bilaterally or unilaterally. However, the GATT dispute settlement system was rather weak and not used effectively. More than often countries abused it or simply ignored it. Even with these faults, the GATT provided a strong foundation for the WTO to be built upon after the Uruguay Round. The United States took advantage of the weakness of the GATT dispute settlement system use its own unilateral methods to handle di... ... January 1998. "Explaining Patterns of GATT/WTO Trade Complaints." Working Paper. Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Available at: https://wwwc.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/wps/sec01/sec01.html Smith, Adam. 1776 (1981 reprint). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. Valihora, Michael S. Spring/Summer 1998. "NAFTA Chapter 19 or the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body: A Hobson’s Choice for Canada?" Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. Volume 30 Numbers 2, 3, pages 447-487. World Trade Organization. February 1998. "Case Study—The Timetable in Practice." Available at http://www.wto.org/wto/about/dispute3.htm World Trade Organization. February 1998. WTO, "Settling Disputes: The WTO’s ‘most individual contribution’" Available at: http://www.wto.org/wto/about/dispute1.htm