In 1995, the World Trade Organization was born out of the Uruguay Round of trade talks. The WTO has approximately 140 member countries with new members in the process of joining(WTO website). The WTO can be considered a more formal extension of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which has existed for around 50 years. However, the WTO covers trade issues that are not addressed by GATT, such as

No one is suggesting that the US or any other industrialized nation let its industries be unfairly put out of business, if that is truly the case at hand. Still, as the Seattle Round demonstrates, the WTO's antidumping laws seem to have satisfied too few countries. Given the spirit of its trade barrier reduction goals, the WTO should make consistency one of its main policy making goals.

Center for Trade Policy Studies Articles. 23 October 1998.

On the methodology for determining that a product is exported at a dumped price, the new Agreement adds relatively specific provisions on such issues as criteria for allocating costs when the export price is compared with a "constructed" normal value and rules to ensure that a fair comparison is made between the export price and the normal value of a product so as not to arbitrarily create or inflate margins of dumping.

Although most developing countries believe that antidumping can be legitimate in many cases and would like to use them more for their benefit, they have been vocal about their beliefs that developed countries unfairly are targeting them for antidumping measures. Speaking of behalf of developing countries, trade representatives from Brazil stated in a WTO General Council meeting: "In the period 1987-1997, developing countries were responsible for only 31% of investigations opened. At the same time, they were affected by 62% of the investigations. This situation is even less acceptable given the concentration of measures in some specific sectors where developing countries have developed a competitive industry. One major trading partner [a reference to the USA], for example, in the last ten years, has opened 173 investigations in the steel sector, nearly half of all investigations opened by this Member"( Raghavan ). Thus, developing countries feel that developed countries are trying to keep the third world countries out of their markets. This could result in a stunt of economic growth for these developing countries, as they are unable to develop secure and stable long term industries. "The imposition or even the threat of imposition of AD duties has a serious adverse effect on the functioning of small and medium size firms, resulting in a fall in production, heavy unemployment and declines in incomes and increases in poverty levels."( Raghavan). more dependent upon their success. And as Ricardian theory shows, a long term decline in the terms of trade will result in a long term decline in real wages. This could mean the developing countries could get poorer and poorer.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3458
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)