World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization established in 1995 following the ratification of the Uruguay Round Agreements, and today includes 164 members. It succeeded the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), created as part of the U.S. and Europe-led post-WWII effort to build a stable, open international trading system.

The WTO’s basic functions are: administering its agreements; serving as a negotiating forum for trade liberalization and rules; and providing a mechanism to settle disputes. The multiple WTO agreements cover trade in goods, agriculture and services; remove tariff and nontariff barriers; and establish rules on government practices relating to trade (e.g., trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights (IPR), and government procurement).