Text III. THE HISTORY OF THE WTO

    Although the WTO is a relatively new international institution, its creation is firmly tied to the past. The push to create a world trade body gathered force in aftermath of the many restrictive trade rules adopted worldwide during the Great Depression. After the Depression began in 1929, many nations placed large tariffs on imports to protect domestic industries and jobs. Most economists now agree that these tariffs aggravated the economic downturn by crippling trade and hurting companies that depended on overseas markets.

    After World War II (1939-1945) Western diplomats and economists pushed to establish an international organization that would promote freer trade. The United States proposed setting up a body called the International Trade Organization (ITO), which would have extensive powers to enforce world trade rules. This organization was to complement two other institutions established shortly after the war to bolster the world economy: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The IMF’s purpose was to help stabilize the currencies and economies of many nations, and the World Bank was empowered to make large, low-interest loans to nations to spur their economic growth.

    The ITO never got off the ground, however. The primary reason was the failure by U.S. president Harry Truman to persuade the Congress of the United States to approve the organization. Many members of Congress were concerned that the ITO would have the power to declare U.S. trade regulations illegal. Without the participation of the United States the world’s largest importer and exporter the organization collapsed.

    In 1947, with the fate of the ITO still unclear, diplomats agreed to set up a far less powerful body called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). That Geneva-based organization had two roles: to oversee negotiations, to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers and to adjudicate trade disputes. GATT proved highly successful in lowering tariffs. During eight rounds of trade talks, the last of which ended in 1994, tariffs in the industrial world fell from more than 40 percent of the value of all industrial goods traded internationally to less than 4 percent.

    However, GATT was less successful in settling trade disputes because of its limited enforcement powers. To resolve disagreements, it relied largely on achieving a consensus, but a consensus often did not develop. In addition, GATT’s dispute-resolution procedures were slow, sometimes taking three years or more. Many nations became frustrated with GATT’s inability to remove numerous long-standing trade barriers or halt the creation of new ones.

    In decades past, trade barriers erected by one country often triggered retaliatory measures from other countries. These actions sometimes led to spiraling rounds of increasing tariffs and other barriers that cut deeply into international trade. Eager to prevent such trade wars, many nations that were dissatisfied with GATT backed the creation of a powerful new organization to quickly settle trade disputes with as little ill feeling as possible. At a 1994 conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, representatives from 109 nations agreed to replace GATT with the WTO, in the hope that the new trade body would be more powerful and effective than its predecessor. The WTO began operating on January 1, 1995.

  

    Vocabulary notes

crippling trade – убыточная торговля

to bolster – поддерживать

to be empowered – быть наделённым властью, полномочиями

to spur – дать толчок

to adjudicate – принимать решение на правовых основах

to become frustrated – разочаровываться (в данном случае)

to trigger – дать начало, стимулировать

retaliatory measures – мероприятия, применяемые в ответ

predecessor - предшественник

 

 

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