SECTIONS

WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global trade institution with teeth. It is responsible for administering dozens of international trade agreements and declarations on a range of issues from agriculture to intellectual property rights. It also handles trade disputes, monitors national trade policies, and operates as the overarching forum for global trade negotiations, called “rounds."

The WTO is crafted like no other international agency. It has a “legal personality” and the power to enforce its rulings. It has an international status equivalent to the United Nations, but unlike the UN, it carries the powers and tools of a global government. WTO rulings are so powerful, they take precedence over multilateral environment agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity; human rights agreements like the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and international labour codes, such as those of the International Labour Organization. WTO rulings apply to laws at every level of domestic governance – federal, provincial, state and municipal.

In this section, you’ll find more information about the global campaign to oppose the WTO. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, contact us at inquiries@canadians.org, or 1-800-387-7177.

Materials

The WTO – General

• Trade bullies: Hong Kong ministerial gives rich countries one last chance to pick on the south - Canadian Perspectives, Spring 2006
• Making the Links: A Peoples’ Guide to the WTO and the FTAA
• Thirst for Control: New Rules in the Global Water Grab
• Trade and Culture
• The European Commission's GATS Position: A Bad Bargain for Canada
• Separating WTO Fact from Fiction (PDF)

WTO Ministerial Meetings:

• Hong Kong, 2005
• Cancun, 2003
• Doha, 2001
• Seattle, 1999

Information

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updated January 18, 2007