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ITL Exercise 1
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Answer of the Exercise assigned for week 1 of the course International Trade Law of the Master Globalisation and Law at Maastricht University.
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International Trade LawExercise 1: WTO Membership: stepping stone or stubling block?
1. International trade has the potential to contribute to economic
development and to lift people out of poverty, but on certain
conditions. These conditions need to be implemented on both the
national (good governance to ensure that nobody is left behind
when international trade is expanding, i.e. a safety net) and
international (further reduction of trade barriers to give developing
countries a better chance in the world market, an increase in
development aid with more focus and strong reform eforts, as well
as better international cooperation and global governance of
international trade to ensure an equitable global trading system)
spheres.
2. There are four main benefts of international trade legislation by
the WTO, aside from it being an opportunity for multinational
corporations, these benefts being:
a. The restraint to take trade-restrictive measures so that short-
term gains within the country adopting them are mitigated
and their long-term gains come more to the forefront ‘tying
their hands to the mast’ so that countries cannot be
influenced by pressure groups
b. Traders get a degree of security and predictability from
international trade rules, so as to encourage trade and
contribute to economic welfare because there is less of a ‘risk
premium’.
c. The protection and promotion of important societal values
and interests (i.e. public health, a sustainable environment,
consumer safety, cultural identity and minimum labour
standards) is lifted from its national boundaries to the
international level because certain problems cannot be dealt
with by a nation alone.
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, d. International trade rules ensure a greater measure of equity
in international economic relations, because the WTO rules
bind big states like the US or trade blocs like the EU as well
as smaller states such as Guatemala or Tuvalu, levelling the
playing feld.
3. When one accedes to the WTO, one has negotiated such bilateral or
regional free trade agreements with almost the whole of the world.
Even if Alexandria has an extensive bureaucratic apparatus, it
would be nearly impossible to do this as a single state and thus I
believe more can be achieved by acceding to the WTO. Most likely,
Utopia is also a member of the WTO, and even if it weren’t, the
benefts of such a huge multilateral organisation are far bigger.
4. As long as the agreement in question is not in discordance with
WTO rules on international trade, Alexandria can still negotiate and
conclude the E-TIP.
5. No, to receive the benefts of the GATT 1994, Alexandria needs to
become a member of the WTO as a whole and accept all of its other
existing rules (except for the plurilateral agreements, a country can
opt-in or opt-out of these agreements and thus pick and choose).
This is not up for negotiation.
6. The WTO accession procedure would entail four steps, to achieve
two ends (whether the legislation and practices of the applicant are
WTO-consistent and, if not, what needs to be done to make them so
as well as the market access concessions and commitments the
applicant has to make in order to become a member):
a. The ‘tell-us-about-yourself’ phase applicant makes a report
on all aspects of trade and economic policies relevant under
the WTO agreements, which a WTO working party will
examine
b. The ‘work-out-with-us-individually-what-you-have-to-ofer’
phase bilateral negotiations between WTO members and
the applicant for market access. The progress and
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