11 The World Trading System and Development Concerns

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter deals with trade policy and the world trading system from a development perspective, and concludes with proposals for making the global trading system more development-oriented, beginning with a re-orientation of the WTO. As trade is a means to development, not an end in itself, the Organization's policies should be judged not on whether they are ‘trade-distorting’ but whether they are ‘development-distorting’. Second, the WTO must make structural changes to compensate for the handicaps of developing countries in the WTO system; reciprocity among members with different capacities leads to unequal outcomes. Thirdly, developing countries need policy space, and must be allowed to consider national treatment, subsidies, and tariffs when these are development-inducing. Finally, the WTO should stick to trade issues — not intellectual property and other non-trade issues. Other agencies exist to handle other issues. With these changes, the WTO could better play its role in the design and maintenance of fair rules for trade, and thus contribute towards a balanced, predictable international trading system which is designed to produce and promote development.