In our daily study, work and life, everyone has tried to write a paper, which generally consists of title, author, abstract, keywords, text, references and appendix. How to write a paper to avoid stepping on thunder? The following is my paper on the difficulties faced by WTO and the reform strategy. Welcome to reading. I hope you will like it.
A brief analysis of the difficulties faced by WTO and its reform strategies. 1 I external challenges facing the WTO
Impact of regional trade agreements
Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) refers to an international treaty concluded between two or more countries or different customs territories to eliminate various trade barriers among members and standardize their trade cooperation. Article 24 of GATT and Article 5 of GATS stipulate that regional trade agreements are exceptions to the MFN principle. But in the practice of international economic and trade exchanges, RTA has become the norm. And the development speed of RTA is amazing. As of July 3 1 20 13, the WTO has received 575 notifications of regional trade agreements, of which 379 have been implemented. RTA makes the negotiation easier because of its own advantages, so many countries in the world naturally focus on it, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which includes almost all the developed countries in the world. RTA focuses on the coordination of bilateral or regional interests, which is not in harmony with the multilateral trading system dominated by WTO and poses a threat to the development of the multilateral trading system.
(B) the impact of contradictions between North and South countries
The contradiction between north and south, that is, the contradiction between developed and developing countries, has always been the most intensified contradiction in the international economic and trade field. The fact that developed countries have always held the right to speak in the development of the world economy has never changed. With the development of their own economy, developing countries have played a certain role in coping with the international financial crisis and promoting the recovery of the world economy, and they also hope to gain a certain voice. The multilateral trading system dominated by WTO has benefited developed countries the most, while those emerging economies have limited economic level and benefits, and the least developed countries are often marginalized. Therefore, on the one hand, 25 developing countries in the WTO collectively wrote to 20 12 to stop the Doha Round, on the other hand, developed countries with dominant power are still unwilling to share the right to formulate international economic and trade rules with rising stars. The intensification of the North-South contradiction has hindered the development and progress of the multilateral trading system of the WTO.
(C) the impact of new trade protectionism
With the deepening of international economic cooperation, the competition between countries is also intensifying. Competition is always accompanied by cooperation. In order to maintain competitiveness, countries implement protection policies for their own industries. Especially in the current world economic slowdown, new trade protectionism is reflected in both developed and developing countries. New trade protectionism is mainly manifested in non-tariff barriers such as green barriers, technical barriers, anti-dumping, countervailing and intellectual property protection. Its purpose is to avoid the shackles of the multilateral trading system, protect domestic industries and employment, and maintain a leading position in international division of labor and international exchanges. New trade protectionism is a severe challenge to the WTO, which takes the promotion of world trade integration as its responsibility.
Second, the defects of the WTO itself.
(A) defects in the organizational structure
Although WTO is a formal international organization, which has overcome the defects of GATT interim agreement, there are still many defects in its own organizational structure. The WTO consists of the Council of Ministers, the General Council and the Secretariat. The Council of Ministers is the highest authority. However, in the negotiation process of the Council, it often takes a lot of time for major trading countries to reach an agreement on controversial issues, so the participation of ministers of many small countries basically has no effect. The General Council performs its duties during the recess of the Council of Ministers, but it is also a dispute settlement body and a trade policy review body, which brings a great burden to its daily operation. The Secretariat is the permanent body of the WTO, headed by the Director-General. Compared with the secretariats of other international organizations, the input of the WTO secretariat is negligible. For example, at present, the secretariat of the International Monetary Fund has a workforce of more than 6,000 people, while the secretariat of the WTO has only one tenth of it. The lack of personnel and funds has stretched the work of the WTO secretariat.
(2) the defects of authority and responsibility
The WTO itself is a huge legal system, which consists of a series of trade-related agreements and agreements, and its coverage has covered all fields of world economic life. However, developed countries with the right to speak in the WTO are still sparing no effort to bring new issues into the jurisdiction of the WTO, many of which have nothing to do with trade. The passive position of developing countries on trade issues leads them to be forced to accept the issue, but not sincerely, thus perfunctory implementation of some resolutions, resulting in difficulties in implementation. The entry of new issues into the WTO framework has increased the passivity of developing countries, and the direct consequence is that the WTO is in a difficult situation.
(3) Defects in rules of procedure and decision-making procedures
Due to the disparity in strength, most WTO rules are formulated by developed countries according to their own interests, and little attention is paid to the interests of developing countries. Therefore, it can be said that the statement that WTO is a rules-based system is false. What is even more disappointing is that the decision-making process of the WTO often lacks transparency. For example, at the Green House Conference, ministers of many countries were excluded from the door. In addition, developed countries usually exert pressure or even threaten to force developing countries to compromise. How can the resolution formed in this case be accepted by developing countries?
Third, the reform of the WTO is imperative.
(A) the necessity of WTO reform
After entering the new historical period, WTO has not adapted to the new international economic relations. The situation that the WTO is dominated by developed countries and regions such as the United States and Western Europe has never changed. On the surface, although the "consensus" has been implemented, most developing countries and least developed countries can only passively accept its decision. These emerging economies are extremely dissatisfied with this model, and with the improvement of their own strength, it is urgent to change this extremely unreasonable and unfair situation. In addition, the WTO itself still has serious institutional defects. This is an international organization dominated by its members. The Director-General and the Secretariat are only passive tools, and they lack proper management power. Because of this, the WTO is gradually losing its international influence, becoming increasingly unpopular in the international economic and trade field, and is likely to face the danger of being overhead. Therefore, WTO reform is imperative.
(b) Suggestions for WTO reform
First, improve the WTO system reform. The current organizational structure of WTO is flawed, and establishing a reasonable and efficient operating mechanism is the first problem. Many reform programs point out that the power of the Director-General of WTO should be strengthened. The duties of the current Director-General are very limited, just like the role of a "spokesman". Therefore, the rights and responsibilities of the Director-General should be further clarified, and excellent professional skills and work experience should be the prerequisites for being elected as the Director-General. At the same time, staff and budget should be increased so that the busy secretariat can fully play its role. Second, implement existing bills and reject irrelevant bills. From the last article, we know that the jurisdiction of WTO has been involved in all fields of the world economy, and it has been overwhelmed. Many problems have not been effectively solved at present. Therefore, developed countries should be urged to implement the existing recommendations as soon as possible, and mainly pay attention to trade in goods. In addition, examine whether the newly submitted proposal belongs to the field of trade in goods. For example, negotiations on environment and resources and labor standards do not belong to the field of trade in goods. The WTO is not the best place to solve these problems. We should oppose bringing these bills into the WTO system, and these problems should be solved by specialized international organizations. Third, reform the existing decision-making mechanism.
A reasonable decision-making mechanism is an indispensable factor for the good operation of an international organization. Although "consensus" has caused decision-making difficulties to some extent, it should not be abandoned and can still be applied to important decisions involving the basic principles of WTO. In addition, according to the suggestions of many experts and scholars, the weighted voting method should be added as a supplement to the "consensus": for the case that the "consensus" is adopted and all members cannot reach a consensus for a long time, the weighted voting method should be adopted, and the number of members who vote in favor should reach an absolute critical number; For some procedural matters, the weighted voting method is directly adopted. The reform of decision-making mechanism is a sensitive issue involving the interests of all parties and should be implemented on the basis of careful consideration. Finally, coordinate the relationship between RTA and multilateral trading system. RTA and multilateral trading system are both boosters to realize the ultimate goal of trade liberalization. They are not mutually exclusive, but should be defined as a complementary relationship. This relationship is reflected in: the multilateral trading system has set a macro framework and system for regional trade agreements and provided principled guidance and help, while regional trade agreements have extended the depth and breadth of negotiations among countries and found a way out for the problems that the multilateral trading system can not solve for the time being. In order to finally realize global trade liberalization, they need to learn from each other and promote each other.
A brief analysis of the difficulties faced by WTO and its reform strategy In recent years, with more and more problems exposed by WTO, reform is imperative, and scholars from all sides have put forward their own suggestions and proposals. What and how to reform the WTO involves the fundamental interests of all member States, so it is not an overnight issue. This paper attempts to analyze the situation of WTO reform and summarize the key issues of WTO reform, including decision-making mechanism, access procedures, supervision ability and so on. And put forward the countermeasures and suggestions of WTO reform.
I. Status of the World Trade Organization
(a) The Doha Round negotiations have not been successfully concluded so far.
Since the establishment of the World Trade Organization, it has played an irreplaceable role in further reducing and eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs, solving the problem of discriminatory treatment in international trade and promoting the development of world economy and trade. However, since the launch of the 200 1 Doha Round, people have been deadlocked and no agreement has been reached, which has led some people to take a pessimistic and negative attitude towards the WTO. However, we should also see that some multilateral agreements have been reached at the Bali Conference of Doha Round, such as the Trade Facilitation Association, in which 32 accession protocols have rewritten part of the WTO agreements, as well as the Ministerial Conference of WTO 20 15 and WTO17. The WTO Ministerial Conference 12, to be held in Kazakhstan in 2020, still takes a positive attitude towards the Doha agenda, which increases people's confidence in the WTO itself and the successful completion of the Doha Round negotiations.
(2) Always provide a free and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system.
Even though the WTO is struggling in multilateral rulemaking and market access negotiations, as the only multilateral institution providing a free and non-discriminatory trading system, it is still an indispensable core international institution, which can play a key role in institutional stability when the global financial crisis occurs, thus ensuring the order and predictability of international economic operation. From this perspective, the impact of the deadlock in multilateral negotiations on the operation of the international economy is only partial and temporary, while the overall situation of the international economy mainly needs the support and maintenance of the WTO system, and the institutional influence and core role of the WTO are overall and long-term.
Second, the difficulties faced by the World Trade Organization.
(a) The leading role of developed countries harms the interests of developing countries.
Although the WTO is called "Economic United Nations", it is undeniable that a few developed countries are playing a leading role in today's trade liberalization process, and the global trade liberalization and investment liberalization process are also carried out in an international environment dominated by developed countries. They have formulated various rules of trade, investment and economic operation in line with their own interests through the WTO, which determines that there are still great limitations and problems in the WTO, and various contradictions and conflicts will inevitably be intertwined in the development of the WTO multilateral trading system. Every country joins the WTO in order to gain more benefits, but the unfairness of these rules hurts the interests of developing countries.
(b) Regional economic grouping is eroding the multilateral trading system.
The multilateral trading system has been trying to bring the issue of regional groups into the multilateral framework to eliminate and limit its negative effects. However, in recent years, free trade agreements signed in bilateral or regional forms have developed rapidly without a new round of WTO trade negotiations. The European Union has the highest degree of trade and economic integration, followed by the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. International trade presents a pattern of coexistence of global multilateral trading system and regional trading system. The operation of these preferential trade agreements will make it more difficult to reach multilateral trade negotiations in the future.
(C)' consensus' decision-making mechanism problems
The decision-making mechanism of "consensus" seems to be very democratic, and any small developing country also has a veto power. In fact, it is the big trading countries that can really use one-vote veto. For example, the United States is the country that uses one-vote veto the most. Moreover, the United States often threatens to withdraw from the negotiations, forcing other countries to agree to American standards. Every round of trade negotiations is protracted, which is based on the principle of "consensus".
(d) There are still many "vacuum zones" for monitoring.
There are too many exceptions and exemptions in WTO, which makes the WTO unable or unable to supervise many periods, occasions and fields in international trade. For example, the operating principles of the World Trade Organization can be ignored in border trade; Other members are not entitled to the preferential terms in the customs union and free trade area agreements. Many "vacuum areas" have greatly reduced the regulatory capacity of the World Trade Organization and greatly reduced the functions of dozens of agreements.
Third, the reform trend of the World Trade Organization.
(1) more safeguard the interests of developing country members.
Doha Round fully shows that the development of developing members has attracted great attention of all members of WT0, but it is far from enough. Since the establishment of WTO, although the economy of developing countries has developed, their position in world trade has not been greatly improved. The terms of trade index of developing countries has improved, but it is still lower than that of developed countries. This shows that the WTO must make greater efforts to ensure that developing country members, especially the least developed countries, get a share in the growth of international trade corresponding to their economic development.
(2) Lower the threshold and simplify the acceptance procedures.
At present, the WTO has only 164 members, and it cannot include and represent all countries in the world. Although it is often regarded as an impossible utopian dream that all countries can fully and equally participate in the WTO negotiations and rule-making activities on a global scale, as long as the WTO lowers the threshold and simplifies the access procedures, there is hope that the WTO will become a real world trade organization, and it is necessary to ensure that no country will be marginalized when its membership increases.
(C) regional trade arrangements and multilateral trading system "disintegration."
It is generally believed that a customs union or a free trade area is a step towards universal trade liberalization by eliminating trade barriers among its members, so as long as its preferential arrangements do not harm the trade of non-members, they should be allowed to exist. With the acceleration of WTO multilateral trading system to trade liberalization, it is possible to "melt" or multilateralize many regional groups with discriminatory preferential systems. The dual-track parallel situation is only a historical transitional form, and the multilateral trading system will eventually replace regional economic integration.
(D) Further improve the decision-making mechanism.
The proposal of taking consensus as the main decision-making mode and appropriately increasing the number of voting decisions is an important idea to improve the decision-making mechanism, but it requires the overwhelming majority of members to reach an agreement on amending the WTO Agreement, which may be difficult to achieve in the short term. Improving the greenhouse conference is a feasible measure in the near future. On the one hand, it is necessary to expand its participation and allow more developing countries to participate, on the other hand, it is necessary to enhance its transparency and make its agenda setting, discussion process and meeting results known to all members and the people of the world in a timely manner.
(5) Constantly strengthen the regulatory capacity.
The multilateral trading system based on the WTO will be further strengthened, and the scope of WTO jurisdiction under its jurisdiction will extend from the fields of goods, services and intellectual property rights to new fields; The framework agreements and agreements reached in the Uruguay Round negotiations will be more detailed and specific, and their binding force will penetrate to a deeper level; Its agreements and rules in the agreements extend from the international scope to the domestic or regional systems of WTO members, which will also strengthen the role of the WTO as a whole.
In order to solve many problems existing in the WTO, meet the needs of the rapid development of world economic integration and further promote the healthy development of international trade, the future development trend of the WTO will be to further reform and improve the mechanism and system, as well as the basic principles and operating rules, fully consider the balance of interests of all members and protect the economic interests of developing country members. Judging from the history of human civilization and progress, the multilateral trading system of WTO is one of the most important public products of mankind at present, which is worth cherishing and maintaining. Therefore, we should take a positive and optimistic attitude towards WTO, which has a long way to go.
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