The WTO has been hijacked by rich country interests, thereby worsening Essay - 1

The WTO has been hijacked by rich country interests, thereby worsening the conditions of the poor in less prosperous countries. ( support) - Essay Example 3). The needs of developing countries were to be put at the center of international trade ring the Ministerial Declaration at Doha. Despite this pledge, the WTO has sidelined the developing countries in favor of promoting the interests of rich countries which are global powers. This paper seeks to provide proof of how the WTO has marginalized developing countries in favor of the rich countries, using the case studies of Zimbabwe and Burma. Under the WTO, all countries, regardless of their stature are supposed to adhere to the lowering of tariffs. As Kachiga (2008, pp. 91) states, one of the main objectives of the WTO is to reduce tariffs by up to 3 per cent in the course of the 21st century. According to the composition effect in which countries specializing in exporting agricultural products are penalized in the same manner as those exporting to protectionist countries, has a negative effect on developing countries in terms of tariffs and true preferences. Essentially, in international markets, exports from developing countries are given lower preference over those from developed countries. Kill & Mcgee (1999) give the example of Zimbabwe which apart from having a lot of mineral wealth also has a lot of food products, yet the latter are not competitive in the international market. In fact, the country relies more on agricultural exports than mining products, with the former making up approximately 40 per cent of all export earnings (Hess 2001, pp. 7). The major agricultural exports include maize, tobacco, and cotton. As a result of the lower preference for agricultural products from rich countries in the international area, Zimbabwe is forced to sell her food products at lower prices than other rich countries with similar food products. Burma also suffers the same tribulations under the WTO as Zimbabwe. For example, Burma exports rice as its major agricultural product. However, due to the political