A new blog post on the World Trade Organization’s website highlights the importance of expanding trade in order to reduce poverty across the globe. The WTO, which just celebrated its 30th birthday after being launched on April 15, 1994 when the “Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization” was signed, has consistently attempted to reduce trade barriers throughout the globe. During this time, a massive decrease in poverty has also occurred.
The WTO was the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which mainly focused on trade in goods. The WTO aimed to be far more comprehensive and focus on trade in goods, but also trade in services and intellectual property. Since WTO’s beginning, world trade has increased by a whopping 500 percent, and billions of lives have improved as a result.
As tariffs have fallen across the globe, prosperity has increased. While some state-centered economists may have found this surprising, proponents of free trade have not been shocked one bit. When regulation and red tape falls, prosperity rises because markets are allowed to work in more efficient ways than were previously available to them. In addition, people are creative and they find impressive ways to make products better, while cutting costs. Consumers benefit as a result and economies grow.
Lessons such as these are incredibly important for the future of African countries, who often have not benefitted from the increase in world trade. Trade barriers amongst African states are still too high, but the African Continental Free Trade Area is attempting to rectify that by reducing both tariff and non-tariff barriers. Remember, where economic freedom thrives, people thrive. Let’s hope that the lessons from trade liberalization over the past 30 years cause more freedom to come in the not-so-distant future.
Alexander Jelloian
Alexander Jelloian is the Research and Project Manager at the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity.
A new blog post on the World Trade Organization’s website highlights the importance of expanding trade in order to reduce poverty across the globe. The WTO, which just celebrated its 30th birthday after being launched on April 15, 1994 when the “Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization” was signed, has consistently attempted to reduce trade barriers throughout the globe. During this time, a massive decrease in poverty has also occurred.
The WTO was the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which mainly focused on trade in goods. The WTO aimed to be far more comprehensive and focus on trade in goods, but also trade in services and intellectual property. Since WTO’s beginning, world trade has increased by a whopping 500 percent, and billions of lives have improved as a result.
As tariffs have fallen across the globe, prosperity has increased. While some state-centered economists may have found this surprising, proponents of free trade have not been shocked one bit. When regulation and red tape falls, prosperity rises because markets are allowed to work in more efficient ways than were previously available to them. In addition, people are creative and they find impressive ways to make products better, while cutting costs. Consumers benefit as a result and economies grow.
Lessons such as these are incredibly important for the future of African countries, who often have not benefitted from the increase in world trade. Trade barriers amongst African states are still too high, but the African Continental Free Trade Area is attempting to rectify that by reducing both tariff and non-tariff barriers. Remember, where economic freedom thrives, people thrive. Let’s hope that the lessons from trade liberalization over the past 30 years cause more freedom to come in the not-so-distant future.
Alexander Jelloian
Alexander Jelloian is the Research and Project Manager at the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity.