The State of World Trade
How do countries trade with each other? And who rules the world of trade?

If you’ve ever thought about these questions then you may have come across the name World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At the WTO 150 countries come together and battle it out to try and get the world deal that suits them best. The great thing about this system is that it allows poorer countries to come together and protect their combined interests.

The last set of talks came to a messy stop in July 2006 because Europe and the US could not agree on a number of issues and developing countries stood together to demand a fairer deal. There’s talk of the talks restarting this summer, but in the interim the world has seen a huge rise in the number of regional trade agreements.

Richer nations and regions, especially the United States and Europe, are pushing hard for their own regional trade deals with poorer countries and these threaten to increase poverty. There are so many of these regional deals that they create a maze of overlapping arrangements and further increase the cost of trade as each has its own set of rules. We are now facing a world of trade that looks more like a spaghetti bowl than a simple system.

Poor countries are led to think that by signing these trade deals they will be improving the lives of their people. But regional trade deals are full of rigged rules, which favour rich country interest and big business. Many regional deals that have already been signed have devastated the lives of poor people. Their stories are compelling.

Regional trade deals divide developing countries and undermine the power they have at the WTO. Oxfam believes that it’s time for the tide to turn and for developing countries to resist the pressures of rich nations and refuse to sign bad deals. This week Oxfam has launched a report that reflects our concerns. We will be taking it to governments to try and influence how they negotiate with poorer countries. Trade is essential for poor people to work their way out of poverty and we want to make sure the rules work in their favour - not for big business and countries that are already rich enough.

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