On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the multilateral trading system (GATT/WTO), the WTO organized a symposium to discuss and analyze the current and future role of the world trading system.
The rapid developments in the last decade--not only political, but also economic and technological changes--have brought the WTO to a turning point in its existence. The new challenge, as the Director General stated in his Opening Remarks at the Symposium, is not just to advance free trade against the forces of protectionism.
The WTO's future agenda should also look at:
how investment and competition laws affect market access
whether differing labour or environmental standards confer a trade advantage and how this should be dealt with
whether taxation and innovation policies constitute a subsidy
whether governments should be allowed to regulate content on the Internet
These and other issues are a world away from `traditional' trade concerns such as tariffs or quotas, and yet all are included, in one form or another, on the new trade agenda.
In this timely and topical collection of essays, important academics in international trade take a fresh look at the future of the global trading system and give a fascinating analysis of the new trade agenda.
Preface, List of Contributors, List of Abbreviations,
Opening Remarks at the 50th Anniversary Symposium
Renato Ruggiero, Opening Remarks at the 50th Anniversary Symposium
Alexander Swoboda, The Future Agenda of the WTO Kym Anderson,
Pragmatism Versus Principle in GATT Decision-Making: A Brief Historical
Perspective Robert E. Baldwin, Fifty Years of the GATT/WTO: Lessons
from the Past for Strategies for the Future C. Fred Bergsten, Fifty
Years: Looking Back, Looking Forward Jagdish Bhagwati, Dispute
Settlement and the WTO: Emerging Problems John H Jackson, The WTO's New
Horizons Patrick A. Messerlin, Looking Back to Look Forward: The
Multilateral Trading System after 50 Years Sylvia Ostry, Low-Income
Developing Countries in the GATTIWTO Framework: The First Fifty Years and
Beyond Ademola Oytjide, Regionalism and the WTO Jaime Serra Puche,
What Does Globalization Mean for the World Trading System? Horst Siebert,
Managing Liberalization, Regionalism and Globalization in the Next 50 Years
Augustine HH Tan, Index