World Trade Organization

The goal of World Trade Organization (WTO): to reduce barriers to trade among its member countries, which include more than 140 countries.

Among the newest members are the People's Republic of China, accepted into the WTO on November 10, 2001, with Taiwan joining the next day.

The WTO was known befor 1994 as the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), and was set up after World War II along with other international institution such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The GATT has made great progress in reducing trade barriers world wide through "rounds" of discussion, which included the Uruguay Round lasting from 1986 to 1994, and the agreement in Doha, Qatar, on November 14, 2001, to launch a new round of negotiations.

R. Feenstra, 2004, "Advanced International Trade," p.175