INTERNATIONAL TRADE

LAWS
MGNM803
Learning Outcomes

 You will be able to analyze the fundamental principles of WTO and its role in free trade
Fundamentals of free trade

 Free trade
 Protectionism
Free Trade
 Free trade theories
Advantages of free trade

 It stimulates economic growth

 It helps consumers
 It increases foreign investment
 It reduces government spending
 It encourages technology transfer
World Trade Organisation- WTO

 The international organization whose primary purpose is to open

trade for the benefit of all.
 The system operated by WTO is “Multilateral trading system”
Objectives

 reduction or elimination of obstacles to trade and agreeing on rules governing the conduct of
international trade
 administering and monitoring the application of the WTO's agreed rules for trade in goods,
trade in services, and trade-related intellectual property rights
 monitoring and reviewing the trade policies of our members, as well as ensuring transparency of
regional and bilateral trade agreements
 settling disputes among our members regarding the interpretation and application of the
agreements
Principles of WTO

 Non-discrimination  Support for less developed

 Opening trade countries
 Predictability and transparency
 Protection of the environment
 Fair competition
 Inclusion
 Partnerships
 Digital trade
https://www.strtrade.com/trade-news-resources/str-trade-report/trade-report/january/russia-moving-away-from-wto-principles-but-u-s-has-little-recourse-ustr-says
 Russia joined the WTO in 2012 after making significant changes to its legal and
regulatory regime covering trade and investment, USTR said, but Russia has reversed
course since then and its “trajectory showed no change in 2022.” 
 Russia
 (1) imposed import bans on a wide variety of agricultural products and high tariffs on some
industrial products,
 (2) limited exports of certain industrial products and restricts a wide variety of agricultural
products and inputs, and
 (3) imposed behind-the-border trade restrictions such as a licensing regime that acts to restrict
imports of consumer technology products, food safety measures not based on science, and a
domestic tax regime that favors domestic software and technology companies.
 Russia has also enacted explicit import substitution policies across a wide range of
products that are supported by local content requirements, domestic purchasing quotas,
and bans on purchasing imported equipment.
 As a result, U.S.-Russia trade over the past ten years has declined
 Total U.S. imports from Russia in 2021 were $29.6 billion, only a slight rise from $29.4
billion in 2012, while total U.S. exports to Russia were $6.4 billion in 2021, compared to
$10.7 billion in 2012.
 USTR noted that while some of this decline is likely attributable to the global decline in
trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some is also likely due to Russia’s increasingly
inward-looking industrial and trade policies.
 This situation has lead the U.S. to cease bilateral engagement on trade and investment
issues, meaning the U.S. has had virtually no opportunity to press Russia to comply with
its WTO obligations.
1. The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) is one of the three major mechanisms of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), which helps to increase the transparency of the multilateral
trading system.

2. China has always emphasized that the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core is
the cornerstone of international trade and the pillar for the healthy and orderly development of
global trade, and firmly supports and maintains the multilateral trading system
 China promotes worldwide trade and investment liberalization and facilitation by
participating in, promoting, and fulfilling WTO-related issues, supports and maintains
the role of the dispute settlement mechanism, attaches great importance to the trade
policy review mechanism, fully supports developing countries' integration into the
multilateral trading system, and firmly opposes unilateralism and protectionism.
 But unfortunately, the US puts its own interests above the interests of other countries and
carry out unilateralism and bullying.

 China opposes the politicization and weaponization of international economic and trade
relations and other acts that disrupt the global industrial and supply chains.

 In order to suppress the development of China's high-tech industry, the US has politicized
and weaponized economic and trade relations within the semiconductor industry.
 The US government has stretched the concept of "national security," abused export
controls, and restricted US companies from selling products related to the semiconductor
industry to Chinese companies.

 The US has even forced other economies to impose joint export controls on China. In
order to achieve the goal of returning the semiconductor industry, the US government
ignores the role of the market and forces related companies to invest and set up factories
in the US.
https://www.who.int/news/item/16-12-2022-who--wipo--wto-call-for-innovation-and-cooperation-to-support-timely-access-to-pandemic-products
 "Today's symposium is about frank, inclusive and empirically grounded dialogue
about how global trade and intellectual property rules contributed to what went
well - and what did not – with the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This will help lay the foundation for better responses to future global health
crises." WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news22_e/gc_19dec22_e.htm
 The fact that two members offered to host the Ministerial
Conference is a sign of good health for this organization. And the
membership has demonstrated the value they attach to
multilateralism and global solidarity by taking this important
decision today,
Thank you

Dr. Pooja Khanna