citizens of the world, the WTO has had many recent problems that deter them away from any chance of even negotiating new trade policies. These problems range form protests to politics.
The most recent event involving the WTO occurred in Seattle at what was suppose to be a weekend of talks to try and figure out what to do with global trade. Instead, the weekend turned out to involve some of the largest protests the United States has seen since the Vietnam War (Poor 1). Protesters from around the globe were anxious to make their voices heard about what they thought of the WTO. Many protesters claimed that the WTO has and will do nothing for the greater good of all economies. They believe that the WTO is simply looking out for richer countries. Also, protesters were claiming that the WTO was simply getting nothing done for anybody. The protests were so disturbing that the 135 countries making up the WTO had to suspend all talks till a further date.
As mentioned one of the big issues the apparent rich country preference in the WTO. In fact, after the failure of the Seattle talks the poorer countries of the world claimed victory against the so-called powerhouses of the world economy, especially the United States. The biggest issue of smaller countries against the U.S. is that the U.S. tried to include the issue of labor rights in the talks. Smaller countries feel that this is simply a way to protect inefficient industries from global competition. They think that, along this same note, richer countries had not honored previous agreements to open up markets to developing countries that have a comparative advantage at producing products involved in the textile and agriculture industries. The poorer countries believe that the failure of the Seattle talks should be a wake up call of the rich to only work on things that will benefit the whole global system, not just themselves.
Other arguments against the WTO and its free trade policies are plentiful.