WTO and Global Trade

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the free trade that it supports. The paper presents and discusses the debate over the WTO and free trade and presents the views of those who support it and are critical of it. It examines the fundamental inequality in global trade that is fostered by the WTO and suggests that global trade serves to support the wealth and power of a global economic elite.

From the Paper:

"As this example suggests, while global trade and its associated wealth may be expanding rapidly - a process which the WTO seems to support - in many cases this expansion serves to promote inequality on a global scale instead of shared prosperity. When we consider that only 1/200th of the price of an average coffee beverage is actually paid to the original harvester of the crop, we can understand the extraordinary profits made at different middle stages of the trade before coffee is actually consumed in the wealthy markets of the world. The expanding and highly profitable global trade in coffee thus allows us to understand that while trade may expand and greater wealth is created as a result, this does not necessarily have to be equally or fairly distributed wealth. In fact, in many cases, global trade seems to support greater inequality."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Angelico, Irene. Black Coffee. Toronto: TVO.
• The Globe and Mail. Editorial. 12 April, 2001.
• The Globe and Mail. Editorial. 13 April, 2001.
• Shrybman, Steven. World Trade Organization: A Citizen's Guide. Second Edition. Toronto: The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and James Lorimer & Co., 2001.

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