How the WTO Fails to Protect Public Interest Laws
Trade officials argue that “general exceptions” baked into trade pacts balance “trade” obligations with public policy goals. But in 31 years, they’ve only worked twice.
Fighting to improve the damaging WTO and its corporate-rigged pacts
Established in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) transformed the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into an enforceable global commerce agency with one-size-fits-all binding rules to which every signatory country is required to conform its domestic policies. The WTO operates as a Trojan horse mechanism to implement corporate-rigged non-trade policies that often fail in democratic fora. While the GATT covered traditional trade matters, like cutting tariffs and opening quotas, the WTO enforces a dozen agreements that have nothing to do with trade.
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