International Trade Law and Arbitration: Understanding the World Trade Organization and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Running head: INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW
INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW
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1INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW
Question 1:
The World Trade Organization is the regulatory body that regulates the international
trade. It is an intergovernmental organization that was formed in January 1995 with signing
of the Marrakesh Agreement1. The agreement was a mutual treaty between 124 nations.
However, the history of the WTO is not as new as it seems. Its history dates back to 1948,
when after the World War II, an agreement of trade was signed by the different nations and it
was known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)2. With such a large
history spanning over several decades WTO is now the largest international trade and
economic organization in the world.
After the world war, the international economic bodies were determined to create an
international organization which would govern over the international trade laws and would
operate to maintain peace and harmony between the different countries on the basis of trade
relation. As the World Bank was formed and the International Monetary Fund was formed,
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade became the international organization governing
the trade policies and formulating trade policies for the different countries.
For many years, GATT worked as the primary body for all the trade regulations in the
global scenario. Over the years, there have been several conferences, which, focused on the
negotiations between the different countries. Seven such rounds have taken place until 1986
and were primarily focused upon the reduction of the trade tariffs for the easier and profitable
trades between the different countries. The Kennedy Round focused on the anti-dumping
agreement and other important sectional developments3. Similarly, the different rounds
focused on the plurilateral agreements, consents, and disagreements. Different policies were
1 Julio Lacarte Muró, "The History And Future Of The World Trade Organization Bycraig Van Grasstekworld
Trade Organization And Cambridge University Press,2013" (2014) 13(04) World Trade Review.
2 Sherzod Shadikhodjaev, "World Trade Organization—General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade—National
Treatment—General Exceptions—Renewable Energy—International Environmental Law" (2017) 111(01)
American Journal of International Law.
3 Lucia Coppolaro, The Making Of A World Trading Power (Routledge, 2016).

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re-instated while others were discarded on the wake of the discussions between the member
countries.
However, in 1986, the member countries decided that the GATT was no longer
adaptive of the new strategies and the new policies that should go in accordance with the
globalized world. With such problems, identified, the eighth round of the GATT council took
place in Uruguay. The talks between the different member states ranged from the
identification of the problems that were earlier decided by the council of members in the
1982 Ministerial Declaration4. It was identified that GATT could not manage the problems of
the world trade policies with efficiency anymore as it had been doing for the past four
decades. The Uruguay Round is considered to be one of the most important trade negotiations
that were discussed between the different member states regarding the establishment of the
trade policies.
In the Uruguay round, several new policies were discussed and the focus was on the
inclusion of new trade policies, which were earlier non-existent in the GATT regime.
Sensitive trade sectors such as agriculture and textiles were brought in the dominion of the
international trade organization. These aspects escalated the older GATT policies and
demanded the reviewing of the age-old laws for aligning with the new world policies and
regulations5. These chains of discussions and negotiations for eight long years helped in the
formulation of new trade policies and practical regulations, which focused on the benefits of
the member states according to the new and globalized society. These aspects helped in the
creation and establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1994. The first formal
4 Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Cathleen Cimino-Isaacs, "How Will TPP And TTIP Change The WTO System?"
(2015) 18(3) Journal of International Economic Law.
5 Christina L. Davis and Meredith Wilf, "Joining The Club: Accession To The GATT/WTO" (2017) 79(3) The
Journal of Politics.

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meeting of the WTO took place in Marrakesh, Morocco and thus the establishing agreement
of the formation of the WTO is known as the Marrakesh Agreement6.
The Ministerial Conference, is the prime decision making regulatory body of the
WTO which meets at a period of two years7. The primary work of the Ministerial Conference
is to bring together all the member countries and the member trade unions. These conferences
are the places of discussion of the contemporary trade practices and the reviewing of all the
trade laws that are essential for the successful operations of trade relations. The Ministerial
Conference has the right to take decisions on different matters relating to the trade policies
and laws. The first ministerial conference took place in Singapore in the year of 1996 and
was detrimental in the highlighting of the issues faced by the developing nations as well as
the developed nations. These conferences have also discussed arguments about large issues
and has been trying to maintain the global policies. The Doha conference marked the
beginning of the Doha round, which made the historical decision of granting China’s entry
into the world trade organization8. This decision marked the new era of China’s economic
rise by developing the trade policies with the global market. The Doha Round also marked
the lowering of the trade tariffs, which turned to be beneficial for the member states.
The primary objective of establishing the Doha round of development was to discuss
the impacts of globalization and include its effect in the trade policies. These developments
would help the WTO to determine the enhancements for the poor by decreasing the trade
tariffs. The argument between the developed nations and the developing nations regarding the
trade tariffs and trade barriers. The liberalization of the trading markets and new laws were
predominant in the discussions of the conference. It looked forward to attain the
6 Luís Pedro Cunha, "The Failure Of The Doha Round And The Development Issue" (2014) 57(1) Boletim de
Ciências Económicas.
7 Cosimo Beverelli, Simon Neumueller and Robert Teh, "Export Diversification Effects Of The WTO Trade
Facilitation Agreement" (2015) 76 World Development.
8 ROBERT WOLFE, "First Diagnose, Then Treat: What Ails The Doha Round?" (2015) 14(01) World Trade
Review.