World Trade Organization

World Trade Organization (WTO)

A multilateral agency that administers world trade agreements, fosters trade relations among nations, and solves trade disputes among member countries.

---

World Trade Organization

An international organization with the goal of liberalizing international trade. It was established in 1995, succeeding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The WTO aims to reduce tariff barriers and promote global economic integration. It sponsors periodic gatherings of representatives of member states to discuss trade issues and further integration, though talks have been marked by disagreement and little resolution. Particularly notorious were the protests and riots at the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999. See also: Doha Round, Globalization.

---

World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO was formed in 1995 to enforce the regulations established by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and several other international trade agreements.

Composed of representatives from 150 nations and observers from additional nations, it regulates international trade with the goal of helping it to flow as smoothly and freely as possible.

Advocates praise the WTO for helping create an increasingly global economy and bringing prosperity to developing nations through increased trade.

Critics, however, assert that industrialized nations such the United States, Canada, and the countries of the European Union have used the WTO to open trade with developing nations while disregarding these nations' environmental and labor-related practices.