World Trade Organization

"WTO" redirects here. For other uses, see WTO (disambiguation).

World Trade Organization
Organisation mondiale du commerce (in French)
Organización Mundial del Comercio (in Spanish)
AbbreviationWTO
Formation1 January 1995; 29 years ago (1995-01-01)
TypeIntergovernmental organization
PurposeReduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade
HeadquartersCentre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland
Coordinates46°13′27″N 06°08′58″E / 46.22417°N 6.14944°E / 46.22417; 6.14944
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
166 members (162 UN member states, the European Union, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan)[1]
Official languages
English, French, Spanish[2]
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala[3] (since 2021)
Budget
CHF 197,203,900 (2023)[4]
Staff
623 (December 2023)[5]
Websitewto.org Edit this at Wikidata

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland[6] that regulates and facilitates international trade.[7] Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade in cooperation with the United Nations System.[7][8] The WTO is the world's largest international economic organization, with 166 members representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP.[9][10][11]

The WTO facilitates trade in goods, services and intellectual property among participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements, which usually aim to reduce or eliminate tariffs, quotas, and other restrictions; these agreements are signed by representatives of member governments[12]: fol.9–10  and ratified by their legislatures.[13] It also administers independent dispute resolution for enforcing participants' adherence to trade agreements and resolving trade-related disputes.[14] The organization prohibits discrimination between trading partners, but provides exceptions for environmental protection, national security, and other important goals.[14]

It officially commenced operations on 1 January 1995, pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, thus replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that had been established in 1948.

Its top decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference, which is composed of all members and usually convenes biennially; consensus is emphasized in all decisions.[15] Day-to-day functions are handled by the General Council, made up of representatives from all members.[16] A Secretariat of over 600 personnel, led by the Director-General and four deputies, provides administrative, professional, and technical services.[17] The WTO's annual budget is roughly 220 million USD, which is contributed by members based on their proportion of international trade.[18]

Studies show the WTO has increased trade and reduced trade barriers.[19][20][21][22] It has also influenced trade agreement generally; the vast majority of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) explicitly reference the WTO, with substantial portions of text copied from WTO agreements.[23] Goal 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals also referenced WTO agreements as instruments of reducing inequality.[24] However, critics contend that the benefits of WTO-facilitated free trade are not shared equally.[25][26]

  1. ^ Members and Observers Archived 10 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine at WTO official website
  2. ^ Languages, Documentation and Information Management Division Archived 24 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine at WTO official site
  3. ^ "Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala confirmed as WTO chief". the Guardian. 15 February 2021. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  4. ^ "WTO Annual Report 2023". www.wto.org. p. 199. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  5. ^ "WTO Annual Report 2023". www.wto.org. p. 196. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Overview of the WTO Secretariat". WTO official website. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  7. ^ a b Oatley, Thomas (2019). International Political Economy (6th ed.). Routledge. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-1-351-03464-7. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  8. ^ "WTO | the WTO and the United Nations". Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  9. ^ "The Reporter Archives". Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  10. ^ "WTO – Understanding the WTO – The GATT years: from Havana to Marrakesh". www.wto.org. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Understanding the WTO Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Handbook at WTO official website. (Note that the document's printed folio numbers do not match the pdf page numbers.)
  13. ^ Malanczuk, P. (1999). "International Organisations and Space Law: World Trade Organization". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 442. p. 305. Bibcode:1999ESASP.442..305M.
  14. ^ a b "U.S. Trade Policy: Going it Alone vs. Abiding by the WTO". Econofact. 15 June 2018. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  15. ^ "WTO | Ministerial conferences". www.wto.org. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  16. ^ "WTO | Understanding the WTO – Whose WTO is it anyway?". www.wto.org. Archived from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  17. ^ "WTO | Understanding the WTO – the Secretariat". www.wto.org. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  18. ^ "WTO | Budget for the year". www.wto.org. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  19. ^ Broda, C.; Limão, N.; Weinstein, D. E. (2008). "Optimal Tariffs and Market Power: The Evidence". American Economic Review. 98 (5): 2032–2065. doi:10.1257/aer.98.5.2032. S2CID 6116538. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ "Goal 10 targets". UNDP. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Wilkinson, Rorden (2014). What's wrong with the WTO and how to fix it. Cambridge, UK: Polity. ISBN 978-0-745-67245-8. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2020.