What Is The WTO and Why Is It Such A Problem? (
Written by Greenpeace

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is one of the most powerful institutions in the world. It oversees the global trade in goods and services. There are currently 146 member countries of the WTO.

The WTO's primary aim is to serve the private sector rather than governments: 'Although negotiated and signed by governments, the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters and importers conduct their business.'This view of the world deletes important elements such as the environment, the hundreds of millions of poor people who produce for themselves (not for markets) as well as many other broader social and human rights issues.

When the WTO was set up in 1995, the majority of developing countries were not at the table and were barely consulted. As a result, the WTO essentially protects multinational corporations based in the North and acts as a tool of rich and powerful countries - notably the US, the EU, Japan and Canada.Although the majority of other WTO members are developing countries from Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America, many of them have little to say in decisions that are taken at WTO meetings. Smaller countries are blocked from entering meetings and don't have enough to offer from an economic standpoint to have any real power.Not surprisingly, even though the WTO is a fairly new institution, there has been public scepticism and concern about how it functions since the beginning.

The WTO came into existence after a long series of negotiations that took place between countries from 1986 to 1994. It is made up of a series of agreements and incorporates the old General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a set of global rules that governed trade in goods. But while the GATT only focused on trade in goods, the WTO's rules were extended to embrace many other topics, including intellectual property, investment, services, telecommunications and financial services (banking).And the WTO wants to extend its powers and the powers of the corporations driving it, still further in the fifth round of WTO trade talks to be held in Cancun, Mexico from 10-14 September, 2003.

Why is the WTO a problem?
The WTO is a tool of the rich and powerful. By placing trade above all other goals, it threatens our health and the environment. Its more powerful members use arm-twisting tactics to push developing countries into making bad deals. And it's being used by corporate interests and the US to force-feed the world genetically engineered food.

It's controlled by the rich and powerfulThe World Trade Organisation (WTO) essentially protects multinational corporations based in the North and acts as a tool of rich and powerful countries - notably the US, the EU, Japan and Canada.Although the majority of other WTO members are developing countries from Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America, many of them have little say in decisions that are taken at WTO meetings. They don't have enough to offer from an economic standpoint to have any real power.Many of these countries are not even invited to key meetings, which are invitation-only (although no one knows exactly how these invitations are handed out, since this is done in a completely non-transparent way).

It is strongly influenced by narrow corporate interestsCorporations are driven by the bottom line - profit. Environmental, social and development concerns are distant priorities, and tend to be a corporate focus only when they bring commercial advantage. Given this narrow agenda, the trend of powerful business lobbies influencing government positions at the WTO is worrying. It is not just in the case of genetically engineered food, where you can see a corporate lobby group influencing government positions. In fact, this is the norm. The US has also blocked an agreement at the WTO that promised developing countries access to vital medicines - even though WTO member countries already agreed to this in Doha in 2001. The reason is that the agreement on the table threatens to cost its pharmaceutical companies lost revenues in the billions. And it is not just the US: the European Union (EU) is under great pressure from the agricultural industry to maintain its huge subsidy programme. The EU is also looking to expand markets for its huge drinking water companies under the WTO agreement on services. Even though freshwater resources are drying up, the EU has been pushing a corporate agenda, not one that works for the environment and development. The list goes on and on. Where WTO agreements can bring profit to big industry groups, those groups go to work on their governments to make sure that the most advantageous agreement is negotiated for them.

The trade meeting in Cancun may be yet another example of this. One of the issues that governments will be discussing is a possible new investment agreement. This could end up becoming a "corporate bill of rights" without including provisions on corporate accountability and corporate social responsibility. Such an agreement would pave the way for corporations in wealthy countries to extend their control and reach, while further increasing the gap between rich and poor countries.

How does the WTO affect you?
Global trade affects many aspects of life. It can impact everything from the environment to your health and the well-being of people around the world. At the next WTO meeting in Cancun, it is not just trade that is on the agenda but environment and human health. The results will affect everyone.

If you care about the environment...then you will be concerned that the WTO puts trade before your health and the environment.

So-called free trade is speeding up the use of natural resources such as water, forests, fisheries, and minerals, much faster than they can be regenerated.

If you don't want to eat genetically engineered (GE) food...then you will want to stop the US from using the WTO as a weapon to force-feed the world GE food.

The WTO threatens crucial environmental agreements, like the first legally binding global agreement that allows countries to reject genetically modified organisms, the Biosafety Protocol.

If you think everyone has the right to be free of poverty...then you will feel outraged that the WTO is a tool of the rich and powerful that works against poorer nations.

The US is blocking an agreement made at the last WTO meeting in Doha that promised developing countries access to vital medicines. The reason - the agreement on the table threatens to cost US pharmaceutical companies lost revenues in the billions.

If you want corporations to be held accountable for their actions...then you will be against the WTO extending its power and the power of the corporations driving it, into new areas.