ECONOMICS REPORT - World Trade Organization, Part 1
By Mario Ritter

This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics Report. The World Trade Organization is the international system for negotiating trade issues. The W-T-O was established in nineteen-ninety-five. But its roots go back to an agreement made soon after World War Two. Twenty-three nations approved the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, in nineteen-forty-seven.

Three years earlier, the International Monetary Conference had taken place in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Negotiators succeeded in planning two important financial organizations. These are the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But the negotiators could not agree on a proposed organization for international trade.

GATT was meant to be temporary. Trade negotiations under GATT were carried out in a series of talks, called rounds. The first round produced cuts in import taxes on one fifth of world trade.

Later rounds produced additional cuts. And negotiators added other issues. In nineteen-sixty-three, the sixth round began. It was called the Kennedy Round, after President John F. Kennedy. He was shot in Dallas on November twenty-second, nineteen-sixty-three. This round of talks ended four years later. The results included an agreement against the trade practice known asdumping（倾销）. That is where one country sells a product in another country at an unfairly low price.

The eighth round of talks began in Punta del Este, Uruguay（乌拉圭）, in nineteen-eighty-six. The Uruguay Round required seven-and-a-half years of meetings and work. In all, one-hundred-twenty-three nations took part.

The Uruguay Round set time limits for future negotiations. It dealt with import taxes as well as other trade barriers. It dealt with protection for intellectual property such as books, music and computer programs. The heavily protected trade in clothing and agricultural products also became issues for negotiation.

The nations that took part did not agree on everything. But they did agree on a new, permanent system to settle disputes. In April of nineteen-ninety-four, ministers of most of the one-hundred-twenty-three countries signed an agreement. This established the World Trade Organization.

The W-T-O has replaced the old GATT. But those first agreements remain the basis of international trade law. Next week -- how the W-T-O operates. This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.

* 如果因您不良评论或重复评论导致评论被删，您将会被扣掉一定数额的金币。
* 您必须遵守《全国人大常委会关于维护互联网安全的决定》及中华人民共和国其他有关法律法规。
* 承担一切因您的行为而直接或间接导致的民事或刑事法律责任。
* 您发表的文章仅代表个人观点，与大耳朵网站无关。
* 大耳朵评论管理人员有权保留或删除其管辖评论中的任意内容。
* 您在大耳朵网评论系统发表的作品，大耳朵网有权在网站内转载或引用。
* 参与本评论即表明您已经阅读并接受上述条款。