Transcript Internasjonal handel

International commercial
diplomacy - GATT/WTO
1
WTO – some facts
2
The 10 benefits
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Benefit nr 1: Peace
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Peace is partly an outcome of two of the most fundamental
principles of the trading system: helping trade to flow
smoothly, and providing countries with a constructive and fair
outlet for dealing with disputes over trade issues. It is also an
outcome of the international confidence and cooperation
that the system creates and reinforces.
History is littered with examples of trade disputes turning into
war. One of the most vivid is the trade war of the 1930s when
countries competed to raise trade barriers in order to protect
domestic producers and retaliate against each others’ barriers.
This worsened the Great Depression and eventually played a
part in the outbreak of World War 2.
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Nr 10: Good government
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The World Trade Organisation
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Principles of the WTO
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Why is it called “mostfavoured”?
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The name sounds like a contradiction. It
suggests some kind of special treatment for one
particular country, but in the WTO it actually
means non-discrimination — treating virtually
everyone equally.
Each member treats all the other members
equally as “most-favoured” trading partners. If a
country improves the benefits that it gives to one
trading partner, it has to give the same “best”
treatment to all the other WTO members so that
they all remain “most-favoured”.
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Exceptions to MFN
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About 100 of the 144 members are
developing countries - and it it
“permitted” to discriminate favourably
towards developing countries
Regional trade agreements are
permitted
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Regional agreements
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GATT- WTO
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GATT - WTO
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Did GATT succeed ?
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Tariff rates dramatically reduced from
40 % to 4 % on industrial goods
Much smaller success with NTBs
Small or no legal power, but has been
much strengthened in the WTO
Outstanding problems
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regional agreements
EU and CAP (Common Agricultural Policy)
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Eight rounds since 1947
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What happened in the different rounds of
negotiations between 1947 and
nowadays?
• The first five GATT rounds concentrated largely on tariff
reductions. The first round, involving 23 countries in 1947,
resulted in 45,000 tariff concessions affecting $10 billion of
trade, about one-fifth of the world's total. The 23 also agreed
to adopt the General Agreement in Tariffs and Trade, rescued
from the failed attempt to create an International Trade
Organisation.
• The next GATT rounds concentrated on further reducing tariffs.
Then, the Kennedy Round in the mid-sixties brought about a
GATT Anti-Dumping Agreement. The Tokyo Round during the
seventies was the first major attempt to tackle trade barriers
that do not take the form of tariffs (non-tariff barriers), and to
improve the system. The eighth, the Uruguay Round of 198694, was the latest and most extensive of all. It led to the WTO
and a new set of agreements covering goods, services,
intellectual property and a new dispute settlement
mechanism.
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The Uruguay Round
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Problem nr 1: Agriculture
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Agriculture - very expensive
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Solving disputes
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Much faster than it used to be
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