World Trade Organization

When the United States took the lead in launching the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations that resulted in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, it recognized that the nondiscriminatory worldwide reduction in trade barriers and the application of new trade rules would bring substantial benefits for U.S. companies and their workers.

 

Currently, the Doha Development Agenda, a similar effort to lower trade barriers through multilateral negotiations, is advancing under the aegis of the WTO. Key U.S. objectives in these global negotiations include:

On October 25, 2005, the Chamber, along with other business leaders, announced the formation of the American Business Coalition for Doha (ABCDoha), a new advocacy campaign aimed at securing a positive conclusion to the Doha negotiations.

 

While the WTO provides a forum for multilateral negotiations to reduce trade barriers, it also establishes and enforces rules for the global trading system. Like other WTO signatories, the United States is subject to WTO disciplines on its own "market access" trade laws, such as Section 301. Although the WTO agreement did not require material changes in U.S. trade law per se, it did establish for the first time a multilateral "review" process for the application of U.S. (and other nations') trade laws to remedy unfair or restrictive international trade practices. Such reviews require U.S and other authorities to consider multilateral reactions to any unilateral trade remedy actions they might take.

 

The United States has benefited from this new discipline, prevailing in a disproportionate share of disputes subject to these processes. Still, such reviews of unilateral action have reduced the amount of leverage the United States and other individual nations can bring to bear on their competitors to open their markets.

 

Doha's potential gains for the U.S. and the world are huge.  The University of Michigan has estimated that a one-third cut to international trade barriers could raise the income of the average American family by an additional $2,500 a year.  Today, U.S. exports directly support 12 million good jobs.  In other words, trade is already delivering benefits, and a Doha deal will lock in and expand opportunities for our economy.

 

Overseas, the Center for Global Development estimates that a successful conclusion to the Doha negotiations could lift more than 500 million people out of poverty.  Economists have found that incomes grew three times faster in developing countries that lowered trade barriers (5% per year) than in other developing countries (1.4% per year) that did not embrace lowering trade barriers in the 1990s.  From Bono to the World Bank, experts on poverty agree that trade will be the 21st century's most powerful development tool.

 

The US Chamber of Commerce is the host of the Doha Luncheon Series.  The goal of this series is to explore efforts to revive the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda negotiations.  WTO Director General Pascal Lamy spoke at the first installment of the Doha Series on April 23, 2007.  His speech is available online.  If you would like further information on the Doha Series please contact Stefanie Westerman at 202-463-5552 or swesterman@uschamber.com.