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Definition: World Trade Organization from Collins English Dictionary

n

1 an international body concerned with promoting and regulating trade between its member states; established in 1995 as a successor to GATT

World Trade Organization (WTO)

From International Encyclopedia of Political Science
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the heir of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). The GATT treaty was hastily—almost by default—adopted in 1948, and GATT as an institution was barely known until the mid-1980s. For many years, it had little in common with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, the World Bank) or the International Monetary Fund (IMF), both founded in 1944 with great unanimity and pomp. However, half a century later, the WTO is widely seen as an institution that is as important as the two others. Such success is due largely to GATT's capacity to fit well the basic economics and politics of trade policy, a crucial heritage for the WTO. GATT was largely shaped by the views of Cordell Hull, Roosevelt's Secretary of State (and in 1945, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in creating the United Nations). Hull believed in an open world trade regime based on no discrimination among countries as a key instrument of world…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Specialized, rules-based, member-driven agency of the United Nations, a world trade monitoring body. It was established in January 1995, on approval of the Final Act of the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Under the Final Act, the WTO, a permanent trading body with…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization (WTO)

From Encyclopedia of Chinese-American Relations
The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on January 1, 1995, is the global international organization that creates and enforces the rules of trade between countries. The WTO was set up by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), during the Uruguay Round of 1986–1994. At its core are…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
A multilateral trade organization designed to promote trade liberalization through periodic rounds of trade negotiations and procedures to resolve trade disputes among members. The World Trade Organization (WTO) was launched at the end of the Uruguay Round (1986–1994) of trade negotiations. Before…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Successor to GATT The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an autonomous agency within the United Nations system. Its objective is to liberalize world trade and consequently to raise living standards and reduce unemployment, by expanding the production and exchange of goods and services, thus promoting…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization (WTO)

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded in 1995 and succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as the centerpiece of the international trading system. GATT managed international trade negotiations through a series of negotiating rounds. The last GATT round was the Uruguay…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the international institution governing virtually all trade among its 151 members. As such, it serves two primary functions. First, it provides a set of multilaterally agreed rules that govern policies affecting (1) countries’ trade in goods and services and (2) …
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Full text Article World Trade Organization (WTO)

From Encyclopedia of American Government and Civics
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization intended to contribute to the development of a global capitalist market system by removing barriers to free trade. In the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s and the devastation of World War II, the United States led the…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization

From The Oxford Companion to International Relations
The World Trade Organization (WTO)—the centerpiece of contemporary global-trade governance—elicits praise, hostility, and frustration in equal measure. As the most significant outcome of the Uruguay round (1986–1994) of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, the creation of the…
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Full text Article World Trade Organization (WTO)

From Political Handbook of the World 2018-2019
Established: By the Marrakesh Agreement signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on April 15, 1994, effective January 1, 1995. Purpose: To administer the agreements contained in the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); to provide conciliation mechanisms to…
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Full text Article WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

From Political Handbook of the World 2016-2017
Established: By the Marrakesh Agreement signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on April 15, 1994, effective January 1, 1995. Purpose: To administer the agreements contained in the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); to provide conciliation mechanisms to…
| 4,910 words
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