Thailand on the world stage/international economic cooperation : The WTO and International Economic Cooperation

Overview

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the most important institutions to have emerged in the economic restructuring of the post-World War II era. The WTO developed from the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and was established January 1, 1995 by the Marrakech Agreement as an evolution of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland and Thailand is the 59th member.
WTO is an arena in which to negotiate reductions in trade barriers and international trade regulations promoting more freedom of trade world-wide on the basis of an even playing field. It provides a forum for resolving trade disputes among member states and is a mechanism for investigating and reviewing the trade policies of member states.
The 153 member states of the WTO derive benefits from reduction or lifting of tariffs, or Most-Favored-Nation Treatment (MFN), and relaxation or lifting of non-tariff trade restrictions among member nations.
Important principles of the universal covenant among members include non-discriminatory trade policy and practice; transparency of trade policy and practice; protecting domestic producers only through customs duties, with the right of exception in case of emergency or necessity; to promote fair competition; to provide a mechanism for settling disputes; to give special and differential treatment (S&D) to developing countries.
One feature of the WTO that is good for developing countries like Thailand is the mechanism for dispute settlement, enabling complaints to be lodged in trade disputes. Thailand has had occasion to file complaints against developed nations, for example, against the United States and the European Union. For example, Thailand brought a case against the United States for its calculation of the antidumping rate used for the original investigation for Thailand's plastic carry bags that was not in compliance with WTO criteria; the United States claimed a deposit to guarantee the antidumping duty on Thailand's frozen shrimps and used the Zeroing measure to calculate the difference in dumping, involving trade restrictions and incompliance with WTO criteria. Thailand submitted a complaint against the European Union for subsidizing sugar exports beyond that specified in the Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
The Doha Round of WTO negotiations should, when completed, lead to a global expansion of trade. However, it is to be expected that free trade negotiations will continue to encounter obstacles as nations turn to increasingly protectionist trade policies in response to uncertain trend of global economic recovery.