The IMF and WTO. How does Geopolitics influence Global Finance and International Trade? by Park Mi

Author:Park, Mi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Coal Harbour Publishing
Published: 2018-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

WTO Accession Process and Entry Requirements

Throughout the history of the WTO, its accession processes have been fraught with controversies and the issue of fairness. In theory, any country can join the WTO but, in reality, applicant nations face unequal entry requirements. Some countries were granted membership with no stringent entry requirements, while others had to face a long delay and a long list of extensive and harsh entry requirements. According to the WTO accession rules, a country wishing to become a WTO member must negotiate the terms of entry with a working party of WTO members. Once the terms are spelled out, all WTO members must agree on the terms before they accept a new member (WTO, 2016). Although any WTO member country can participate in a ‘working party’, it is often the case that only those nations that have special interests or stake in the entry of the respective applicant get involved in the working party. When the working party determines a series of entry requirements, the applicant nation must make a full commitment to the terms of entry in order to be admitted. The controversy is that some nations have be subject to harsher entry requirements than others and that the differential treatment by the WTO have much to do with geo-economic and geo-political interests of influential members in the WTO.

Washington played the role of the gatekeeper for the GATT/WTO and allowed only its close allies to join the exclusive club that granted lower tariffs on manufactured goods. In the 1950s, close US allies (West Germany, Italy, Greece and Turkey, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Peru) were admitted. In the 1960s, many former colonies of Western Europe were granted entry to the GATT. Also, several close US allies (Portugal, Spain, Iceland, Israel, and South Korea) and two countries in the periphery of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Poland (both having a troubled relationship with the Soviet Union) gained membership (Stone 2011). After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Washington and some European states were reluctant to admit Russia and China. As a condition for Russia’s WTO membership, Washington demanded “Russia’s cooperation with US efforts to establish air bases in Uzbekistan, to prosecute the 2001 war in Afghanistan” and again “Russia’s cooperation with the Iraq war in 2003” (Stone 2011:101). The US and the EU again blocked Russia’s accession during the Georgia War in 2008 and their objection continued until Moscow made some geopolitical concessions to Washington’s liking. With the elapse of 19 years since Moscow’s initial application for WTO membership, Russia’s accession was finally granted in 2012. The entry negotiation between the WTO and China took 15 years. Only when Washington dropped its opposition to China’s accession in 2001, China was granted membership. As of 2016, only a handful number of countries (e.g., North Korea, Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan) are not part of the WTO. All non-members share the same trait that they have a rather troubled relationship with the US. As seen in the above, geopolitical calculations have always factored in the accession process.

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