Their goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters and importers conduct their business, with a view to raising standards of living, while allowing governments to meet social and environmental objectives. Essentially contracts, these documents provide the rules for international commerce and bind governments to keep their trade policies within agreed limits.
Overseeing WTO agreementsĪt its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations. Conversely, in some circumstances, WTO rules support maintaining trade barriers – for example, to protect consumers or the environment. Where countries have faced trade barriers and wanted them lowered, the negotiations have helped to open markets for trade. The WTO was born out of five decades of negotiations aimed at progressively reducing obstacles to trade. The WTO’s founding Marrakesh agreement recognizes that trade should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment, increasing real income and expanding global trade in goods and services while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources. The fundamental goal of the WTO is to improve the welfare of people around the world.
