The World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization was founded in 1995. It is a sub organization of the General Agreement on Tarifs and Trade (GATT). The main focus of the WTO is to contractualize international trade. At the heart of the WTO system, the multilateral trading system, are agreements negotiated and signed by a great number of the world's nations. These contracts guarantee the member nations certain trade rights and bind the governments to keep trade agreements within agreed upon limits that maximize everyone's benefits.

While governments negotiate and ratify the trade agreements, their purpose is to aid producers of goods and services, exporters and importers in conducting their business.

The WTO feels that its goal is "to improve the welfare of the peoples of the member countries." citation

Many people, like the protestors in Seattle claim that the WTO does not fulfill its goal of improving the welfare of the people in the member countries. They claim that the WTO results in lost jobs, increased poverty, and damage to the environment. Many do not believe that the WTO is as democratic as it claims to be. They see it as a organization dictating trade agreements where large industrialized countries can force smaller less developed countries to join and ratify agreements that may not be truly for their benefit.

The WTO claims that its system results in a world where nations can negotiate international trade within rules that help resolve disputes for the benefit of all and in a peaceful manner. This system increases income, lowers the cost of living, and stimulates economic growth in the member nations. Basically, the WTO seeks to foster an increased interdependence of the world's nations.