The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible.
Pros:
1. Helps promote peace between nations: WTO is tasked with the responsibility of promoting trade between nations thereby ensuring that nations stick to the rules and regulations governing trade at the international level.
2. Handles disputes constructively: WTO is dedicated to the handling of disputes that may arise as a result of countries conducting trade among themselves and ensuring that all disputes are resolved amicably.
3. Rules make business easier: WTO is dedicated to set rules that are intended to make doing business easier. WTO formulates these rules and ensures that all countries adhere to the rules of trade as stipulated by the organization.
4. Reduces the cost of living: WTO is empowered to ensure that countries remain productive as far as trade is concerned and thereby raising the profiles of these countries to the point of raising their profiles and improving the cost of living.
5. It encourages choice: By encouraging trade among nations, the WTO is dedicated to ensuring that each country produces goods and services that they are proficient in thus enabling consumers to have a choice in all goods and services.
6. Raises income among nations: WTO encourages trade among nations. By doing this, countries are able to do business with other countries hence ensuring that their incomes are diversified which increases the net income.
7. Stimulates economic growth: WTO is tasked with the responsibility of stimulating economic growth by encouraging countries to diversify their products and ensure that citizens have a lot to choose from.
8. Makes life more efficient through policy: Order is key in the world of trade. WTO formulates relevant trade policies that ensure countries are streamlined to guarantee the free flow of goods and services.
9. Encourages good governance: WTO works directly with governments and states to ensure that these governments and their leaders follow a stipulated direction in ensuring good governance.
10. Shields government from lobbying: WTO also plays watchdog in all governments. They are able to shield governments from lobbyists who seek to pursue their own individual interests.
Cons:
1. It is undemocratic: WTO has been accused of being undemocratic in the way they conduct the affairs of the organization where big companies and influential governments dictate policy.
2. It does not ensure security: WTO deal with ensuring that governments are protected in terms of trade. They cannot, therefore, guarantee the security of nations as far as security is concerned.
3. It does not guarantee the rights of the consumers: WTO deals mainly with the interests of governments and other big corporations. This means that they do not work to guarantee the rights of consumers.
4. It sometimes destroys the environment: WTO is accused of destroying the environment by encouraging governments to build industries and other technology firms at the expense of the environment.
5. Trade rules are unfavorable towards developing countries: Developing countries suffer the most when it comes to trade deals that are cut among nations due to their weak influence.
6. Hinders developing economies from growth: By cutting out developing nations from meaningful trade deals, the WTO hinders these nations from developing.
7. Difficulty in making progress: Many companies and countries are tied to lobbying and cutting deals to the extent that it is difficult to make any meaningful progress after a long time.
8. Rules usually favor multinationals: The rules formulated by the WTO are designed to favor influential companies and multinationals thereby rendering other companies unproductive.
9. It is being overshadowed by other agencies such as TIPP: Because of the continued lobbying and lack of tenacity in its dealings, the WTO is being overshadowed by other agencies such as TIPP.
10. Only cares about companies: The WTO only deals and cares about major corporations and countries and does not care about the small and medium companies that are coming up.
