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World Trade Organization: General Agreement
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The ACSWP has developed a series of four study papers on globalization and trade issues impacting the church and the world as the new millennium dawns. They serve as a basis for the development of a Resolution anticipated for the 217th General Assembly (2006). They are the following and can be ordered through PDS or downloaded:
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The WTO can help other causes by being more successful in its own mission of trade liberalization. This assumes that trade liberalization and the ensuing growth is complementary to better law enforcement—a reasonable proposition, but one without supporting evidence. One example of a positive trade effect would be agricultural trade liberalization that enables new markets and gives narcotics growers an alternative productive use of land.(76) The U.N. General Assembly saw this connection in 1992 when it passed a resolution regarding narcotics which, among other points, encouraged the pursuit of trade liberalization to enhance trading opportunities of countries affected by illicit production of narcotic drugs.(77)
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Pascal Lamy, WTO Director General, claims that the outcome of the negotiations will determine the development fate of the world's poorest countries (WTO Committee on Trade and Development, 11/28/05). He says, "What is already on the table can translate into a good result for development...it would certainly be disastrous if what we have disappears because we fail to move the negotiations forward."
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The conclusion of the Doha round of trade talks aimed at liberalizing global commerce will probably have to be extended beyond a Jan. 1, 2005 deadline, WTO deputy director general Roderick Abbot said Oct. 6. He added that is was “more than likely” the WTO “will continue the current round of talks until the middle or end of 2006”. If on Dec. 15 when the organization’s general council meets in Geneva there is still no progress on the Cancun text, “a realistic calendar will impose itself” and the deadline will be pushed back, Abbot said.Ê
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A solid majority feels that the US should participate in the WTO and that the WTO should even be strengthened, but overall ratings of the trade body are mixed. A strong majority agrees that the WTO is too responsive to business interests over the interests of the world as a whole, and believes its deliberations should be opened up to public scrutiny. An overwhelming majority rejects its resistance to including other considerations, such as labor and environmental standards, in the trade negotiation process and its principle that, in general, countries cannot refuse to import products based on the environmental effects of how they are produced.
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In general, trade-related law enforcement measures can run afoul of two WTO rules. First, both the GATT and the GATS prohibit certain quantitative restrictions that impede market access.(61) This rule is violated by many of the measures discussed in Part II because they apply a quantitative restriction in the form of a trade ban. Second, both the GATT and the GATS contain a most-favoured-nation (MFN) requirement that makes it difficult to discriminate against particular foreign countries.(62) Despite this rule, many of the measures discussed in Part II are targeted against particular countries.
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General Agreement