Question: Why is WTO Membership So Important?
Answer:
- WTO membership means that the nation automatically receives Most Favored Nation status. Basically, all 149 WTO members are “most favored”, which means they must all treat each other the same, and give no preferential trade preference to any one partner without giving that preference to all.
- WTO members trade with lower trade barriers, including tariffs, import quotas and excessive regulations. This allows them a larger market for their goods, leading to greater sales, more jobs and faster economic growth.
- Over 75% of WTO members are developing countries. WTO membership allows them access to developed markets at the lower tariffs, while taking time to remove reciprocal tariffs in their own markets. This gives these countries an opportunity to “catch up” to sophisticated multinational corporations and their mature industries before opening the developing countries’ markets to overwhelming competitive pressure.
