Pertinent to any discussion on trade are strategies to be used to protect human health and national economies without adopting fully protectionist trade measures (for example, the Buy American policy). This is why tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers are always being discussed in the WTO. While they are pertinent to agricultural trade, they are also discussed in the context of industrial and natural resource products (non-agricultural market access negotiations).
The World Trade Organization is a powerful self-serving undemocratic organization, operating with no input or control by us and with no concern for what is in our best interest. The bylaws of the organization supersede our own Constitution, which is a total contradiction to the intent of our Constitution. The U.S. Constitution states that all treaties made under the authority of the United States become supreme law of the land. Our government, under pressure from foreign paid lobbyists, mistakenly invited the WTO to rule over us when they signed the treaty. Now we have no choice but to conform our laws, regulation and administrative procedures to the agreement, instead of to our own Constitution.
ReplyDeleteBeyond the quantifiable numbers of economic hardship here in America, the WTO is inherently wrong for other reasons. The organization remains indifferent to issues of workers rights, child labor and environmental protection standards. The organization has little to no transparency as all of its hearing are closed to the public. It is no wonder then that we lose nine out of every 10 trade disputes brought before the body.
The WTO has come to represent the most efficient form of colonization the world has ever seen - reaping all the benefits with no downsides of occupation. The corporate agenda of the organization has destroyed the developing economies of the world, exploiting cheap resources and giving them little in return.
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