WTO and the Developing Countries

T. Srinivasan

Journal of Social and Economic Development, 1999, vol. 2, issue 1, 6-36

Abstract: The paper reviews the experience of developing countries in the multilateral tradlng system from the conclusion of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 and the establishment of the World Trade organization (WTO) in 1995. It traces the ongins of GATT and the history of eight successlve rounds of multilateral negotiations under its auspiccs for reductions of trade barrierss culminating in the Uruguay Round Agreement (URA) in 1994. It is argued that the hesitant and ambivalent attitude towards GATT and a liberal world trading system on the part of developing countries and their insistence on a special and differential treatment that exempted them from having to reciprocate tariff 'concessions' offered by developed countries hurt them. The paper concludes with a cautionary note that developing countries should remain united if they are to forestall extraneous issues such as the demand for the enforcement of labour and environmental standards through the WTO.

Date: 1999
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Working Paper: WTO and The Developing Countries (2000)
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