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History
The World Trade Organization was founded in 1995, however
discussion upon its founding dates back to the International Monetary
Conference in 1944, where the decision to create an organization that would
oversee the trade of the entire world, was discussed. Twenty-three nations
joined the temporary organization called General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT). This allowed nations who wanted to negotiate trade and tariffs
laws between countries to carry them out peacefully and in order. The
organization carried out negotiations in a series of rounds. GATT continued to
deal with major issues about trade up until 1994. In this year one hundred
twenty-three nations were signed and agreement, the agreement replaced
GATT and created the World Trade Organization. (Ritter, www.voanews.com)
Throughout its history, the WTO has never had a huge impact on
demographic issues. It is, however, affected in a way to some characteristics
in demographic issues. The poverty level can affect which countries
economies flourish and which dont. This, in turn, leads to which countries
the WTO can allow to trade with another country. This can also lead to which
country become members within the WTO and which do not.

Purpose:
The WTO is an organization for trade opening. It is a forum for
governments to negotiate trade agreements. It is a place for them to settle

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trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules. Essentially, the WTO is a

place where member governments try to sort out the trade problems they
face with each other (www.wto.org-1). Its purpose to settle trade
agreements and to deal with issues arising around the world market.
Within the purpose of the WTO, they strive to create trade throughout
the entire world. This connects with global village, interconnectedness and
interdependence. The entire concept of the WTO is directly related to trade
throughout the world. The WTO promotes and places laws on trade, creating
a closely knit world. By encouraging trade, more countries become
dependant on each other for trade commodities. The WTO creates trade
options for many countries and by doing so, makes the world more
connected with each other.

Current Endeavours and Issues:

The WTO has stations all over the world. Everyday, new issues arise
that the WTO has to deal with. Major issues today are Information Technology
Agreement, The US/Mexico tuna case, Aid for Trade project and many more.
The WTO works hard to especially take the environment into consideration
during their work with trade. The WTO agreements confirm governments
right to protect the environment (www.wto.org-2). One specific case that the
WTO dealt with that had an impact on the environment was the shrimpturtle case. In 1973, five endangered sea turtles were placed on the
endangered species list. Later, the US declared that any shrimp fisher in

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United States (US) waters must use turtle excluder devices (TED) in order to
avoid the catching or killing of these species. This ruling expanded to all
shrimp and turtle harvesters that imported the endangered species into the
US, forcing other countries to use TEDs all the time. This case became more
disputed in the late 1990s, when other countries brought forward the case to
the WTO, where the question arouse if the US had the power to impose
trading laws to other countries it traded with. The US lost the case because it
showed partiality to Caribbean fisheries. The case, however, has not yet
been brought to a close. The WTO cannot decide if a country can impose
another country with trading laws if environmental factors are brought into
play. The implied ruling now is that countries can discuss these trading laws
to avoid the damaging of the environment; however the sovereign nation
cannot exploit the other with these laws. (www.wto.org -3)

Impacts on other countries:

Developing countries have never had a huge part in either the General
Agreement with Tariffs and Trade or the World Trade Organization. Countries
sign into the WTO in order to participate in trade agreements and have their
goods and services traded more effectively to other countries. Developing
countries that are not signed onto the WTO struggle with exporting their
goods effectively and end up in a rut with nowhere and no one to effectively
trade with. The WTOs mission statement explains that they want to help

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countries to deal with trade barriers and to remove tariffs where needed.
This is exactly the way the WTO affects other countries. The WTO can aid in
trade negotiations and has the power to impact countries to open their trade
to countries that have required goods for the sustainability of another
country.
The WTO supports and depends of most developed countries (MDCs)
and less developed countries (LDCs). As of May of 2012, the WTO has 155
members. Many of its members are LDCs; it is by the help of the WTO that
these countries can trade with major trade nations such as the United
Nations and the North America.
The Dona Development Agenda (DDA) is the most recent round that is
being dealt most recently. The WTO instituted the Dona round in 2001, in
which their mission is to revolutionize trade within rich and poor countries.
The goal is to lower trade barriers and revise specific trade rules between
MDCs and LDCs. In addition, they monitor fair trade between members
through the Dona Development Agenda. In turn, the DDA contributes to the
economics of each country it affects. By lowering tariffs and trade barriers,
many more LDCs can have the room to develop and trade. (www.wto.org -4)

Christian Perspective:
As Christians, there are a few differencing viewpoints on the WTO. The WTO
monitors and aids in discussion over key trade agreements that could cause a
country to prosper. By their goal of creating free trade, it also opens a poorer

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country to many outside influences. Sally Macdonald states in her article Christian
split over the WTO, Some conservative Christians believe that free trade opens
doors to missionaries in nations that might not welcome them otherwise
(Macdonald, The Seattle Times). A rich blessing for Christians is to see new
countries that were once hostile to Christianity now accepting it. In the negative
viewpoint, some liberal Christians remain not in favour of the WTO because WTO
policies lead to a world in which the poor will never catch up with the rich
(Macdonald, The Seattle Times).

Bibliography
1- "WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION." WTO. Web. 04 June 2012.

<http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact1_e.htm>.

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2- "WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION." WTO. Web. 04 June 2012.

<http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/bey2_e.htm>.
3- "WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION." WTO. Web. 04 June 2012.

<http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/bey2_e.htm>.
4- "WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION." WTO. Web. 05 June 2012.
<http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm>.
Ritter, A Brief History of the World Trade Organization." VOA. Web. 04 June 2012.
<http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/a-23-2007-05-31-voa283131877/126860.html>.
Macdonald, Sally. "Search." Advanced. The Seattle Times, 13 Nov. 1999. Web. 05 June 2012.
<http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991113>.