Business Environment, 4th Edition by Pearson

26

World Trade

Organization

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BACKGROUND

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the most important institutions

dealing with international economic relations. In broad terms, its role is twofold.

One, to establish and enforce the rules of the road for international trade in both

goods and services. Two, to progressively liberalise that trade, in 2006 valued at

close to US$12,083 billion every year. While the WTO began its life on 1 January

1995, its origins are more than half-a-century old. They lie in the economic and

social disaster of the Great Depression of the 1930s. At this time in history, countries

turned inwards and provoked a ...