Official Agencies and Documents
Labor Resources on the WTO
Nonprofit Organizations and Research Institutes
Reports and Articles on WTO
Recommended Web Sites

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Treaties (GATT) was launched in the wake of World War Two to set universal rules for global trade. Its stated mission was to reduce barriers to trade and prevent competitive trade policies from hampering the global economy. Member nations had negotiated seven rounds of tariff reductions by 1994 when the GATT was replaced by the more structured World Trade Organization (WTO). While the WTO, which now includes 138 member states, was designed to further the GATT's mission of reducing barriers to trade, its mandate was vastly expanded. The WTO now includes unprecedented enforcement mechanisms that oversee more than a dozen new treaties governing areas such as services, investment, intellectual property rights, and government procurement, as well as the GATT. Critics have charged that the WTO's rules are biased in favor rich countries and that its purview and enforcement powers are far too great. They point to a growing body of cases in which member governments have used the WTO to strike down environmental, public health, and human rights legislation in other countries, in the name of removing unfair "non-tariff barriers trade." Labor and citizen's groups launched a series of protests in recent years aimed at reforming or replacing the WTO.


Official Agencies and Documents

World Trade Organization
United States Trade Representative
General Agreement on Tarrifs and Trade
The GATT Text
WTO On-line Documents Page
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 - Summary Description from Organization of American States
Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; Agreement on Textiles and Cloth
Agreement on Rules of Origin
Agreement on Preshipment Inspection
Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures
Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade (GATT) 1994
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures from the Uruguay Round negotiations
Agreement on Safeguards from the Uruguay Round negotiations.
Uruguay Round negotiations Annex 1B - The General Agreement on Trade in Services
Uruguay Round Negotiations Annex 1C -The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)
Uruguay Round negotiations Annex 2
- Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes
Uruguay Round negotiations Annex 3 and 4 - Trade Policy Review Mechanism and Plurilateral Trade Agreements.
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994


Labor Resources on the WTO

North American Unions and Labor Organizations

AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Canadian Auto Workers (CAW-Canada)
Canadian Labor Congress
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Council of Canadians
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
Jobs With Justice
National Farmers Union (Canada)
National Union of Public & General Employees (NUPGE)
United Auto Workers (UAW)
United Steelworkers of America (USWA)

Latin American Unions and Labor Organizations

ICFTU Inter-American Regional Organisation of Workers (ORIT)
Alianza Social Continental (ASC)
Central Ùnica dos Trabalhadores (Brasil)
Chile Sustentable
Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina
Frente Continental de Organizaciones Comunales/Coordinadora
Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Micro y Pequeña Empresa (Argentina)

Fundación Solón (Bolivia)
FOCO (Argentina)
Instituto de Ecología Política (Chile)
Latinoamerica de Organizaciones del Campo
Red de Ecología Social (REDES)/Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay
Red Mexicana de Acción Frente al Libre Comercio (Mexico)
Third World Network/Instituto del Tercer Mundo (Uruguay)
World Social Forum/Fórum Social Mundial (Brasil)


Nonprofit Organizations and Research Institutes

Action for Community and Ecology in the Regions of Central America
Alliance for Responsible Trade
Alternatives for the Americas
Corporate Watch
Development GAP
Economic Policy Institute
Friends of the Earth
Global Exchange
Global Trade Watch
Hemispheric Social Alliance
Institute for Policy Studies
International Forum on Globalization
Polaris Institute
Resource Center of the Americas
The Development Group for Alternative Policies
Third World Network - Trade/WTO
Women's Edge
Video Activist Network
WTO Action
WTO Watch


Reports and Articles on WTO

Background

Statement by AFL-CIO on Workers' Rights and the WTO
by John J.Sweeney, AFL-CIO

What is the the WTO?
by the AFL-CIO

Ten Reasons to Oppose the World Trade Organization
by Global Exchange

A Citizen's Guide to the World Trade Organization
by the Working Group on WTO/MAI (PDF)

Q&A on the WTO, IMF, World Bank,and Activism
by Michael Albert

WTO Puts Markets and Corporate Profits before People
by Gilles Stockton

WTO: Wrong Trade Organisation
by Devinder Sharma

New International NGO Statement on the WTO: Shrink or Sink

Workers' Rights at the World Trade Organization and in U.S. Trade Policy
by the AFL-CIO

Trade and Labor at the WTO
by Tom Barry

WTO Trade & Labor Standards
by Brewster Grace

Trade, Labour & the WTO: What Next?
by Trade Policy Monitor

Regulatory Standards in the WTO: Comparing Intellectual Property Rights with Competition Policy, Environmental Protection, and Core Labor
Standards

by Keith E. Maskus

Enough Exploitation is Enough; 09.15.99
by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

 

Developing Countries

China, the WTO, and Human Rights
by Lori Wallach

WTO and Developing Countries Overview
by Andrew Wells

Would Developing Countries Gain from Inclusion of Manufactures in the WTO Negotiations?
by Thomas W. Hertel and Will Martin

WTO and Sustainable Development
by John C. Dernbach

Human Rights and the WTO: Time to Take on the Challenge Loaded Against the Poor: World Trade Organisation
by Oxfam

The Participation of the Developing Countries in the WTO
by Constantine Michalopoulos

Financial Services and the WTO: Liberalization in the Developing and Transition Economies
by Aaditya Mattoo

Report on the Seminar on "Current Developments in the WTO: Perspective of Developing Countries"
by Third World Network

Globalization, WTO and Development Strategies for Poorer Countries
by Kym Anderson (PDF)

Intellectual Property Rights and Globalization: Implications for Developing Countries
by Calestous Juma (PDF)

Loaded Against the Poor: World Trade Organisation
by Oxfam (PDF)

 

Intellectual Property Rights

TRIPs and the WTO: An Uneasy Marriage
by Arvind Panagariya (PDF)

Promoting Biopiracy, Blocking TRIPs Reform: Seattle and the politics of the W.T.O./TRIPs Review
by Dr. Vandana Shiva

NAFTA and GATT Intellectual Property Issues
by Ladas & Parry
 

Food Security and Public Health

Integrating Agriculture into the WTO: The Next Phase
by Kym Anderson, Erwidodo and Merlinda Ingco

Trade and Hunger: An Overview of Case Studies on the Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Food Security
by John Madeley

The World Trade Organization and the Human Right to Food Security
by Mark Ritchie, IATP

The WTO and Public Health
by Agnes Bertrand and Laurence Kalafatides

The New GATT Round: Whose Development? Whose Health?
by Tim Lang

GATS and Public Service Systems
by Oxfam GB

How the World Trade Organisation is Shaping Domestic Policies in Health Care
by Allyson M Pollock and Jean Shaoul

"Free" Trade at What Cost? The World Trade Organization and the Environment
by Friends of the Earth

 

Transparency and Dispute Resolution

Testimony by Lori Wallach of Public Citizen on the WTO Dispute Settlement System

WTO Transparency Debate
by Trade Policy Monitor

WTO Dispute Settlement, Transparency and Surveillance
by Bernard M. Hoekman and Petros C. Mavroidis

What Is Wrong with NGO Participation in the WTO Dispute Settlement Proceedings?
by Pradeep S Mehta

The WTO Millennium Bug: TNC Control over Global Trade Politics
by Corporate Europe Observer

Domestic Regulation and Trade: Subsidiarity and Governance Challenges for the WTO
by Jim Rollo and L. Alan Winters

WTO Reform and Subnational Interests
by Trade Policy Monitor

The Year Ahead for WTO
by Trade Policy Monitor

 


Recommended Web Sites

AFL-CIO's Global Economy Page
Information and action on how to make the global economy work for working families.

WTO Watch Document Center
An exhaustive clearinghouse of articles on the WTO and trade policy.

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch WTO Page
Articles and reports on the WTO.

Global Exchange's WTO Page
Background and activism on the WTO and related issues.

* Many thanks to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy for providing us with links to the dozens of articles above.





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