Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:25:03.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The political economy of WTO accession: the unfinished business of universal membership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2009

KENT JONES
KENT JONES*
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics, Babson College, Babson Park, MA, USA
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While the WTO now represents most of the world's population, GDP, and trade, the accession process since its founding has been lengthy, and it is getting longer. Compared to its predecessor, the GATT, the WTO applies a much more detailed and legalistic approach to accession, due to its broader scope of policy coverage and the enforcement powers of the Dispute Settlement Understanding. In WTO accession cases, WTO incumbent members have a superior bargaining position. The present study provides evidence that the elapsed time from WTO application to accession has increased with the number of completed accessions, suggesting a process of learning by WTO members to bargain for more demanding concessions from applicants. Regarding the terms of accession, the number of rules commitments has increased, and the level of bound tariffs has fallen, as the number of completed accessions has increased. In view of the difficult cases remaining in order to complete universal WTO membership, the author proposes more flexibility in accession requirements, along the lines of the GATT tradition.

Type
Review Article
Information
World Trade Review , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 279 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Kent Jones 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The author acknowledges comments from participants at the Atlantic Economic Society meetings (Philadelphia, October 2006), the Babson College Board of Research forum (February 2007), and the St. Petersburg State University conference on WTO Accession (April 2007), from two anonymous referees, and from Robert McAuliffe and Yunwei Gai.

References

References

Adhikari, Ratnakar and Dahal, Navin (2003), ‘LDCs’ Accession to the WTO: Learning from the Cases of Nepal, Cambodia and Vanuatu’, South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Kathmandu, Nepal. Accessible at http://www.un-ngls.org/SAWTEE.doc.Google Scholar
Anderson, Kym and Martin, Will (2005), ‘Agricultural Trade Reform and the Doha Development Agenda’, The World Economy, 32: 147–166.Google Scholar
Auboin, Marc (2007), ‘Fulfilling the Marrakesh Mandate on Coherence: Ten Years of Cooperation between the WTO, IMF and World Bank’, Discussion paper no.13, WTO, Geneva.Google Scholar
Broude, Tomer (1998), ‘Accession to the WTO: Current issues in the Arab World’, Journal of World Trade, 32: 147–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charnovitz, Steve (2007), ‘Mapping the Law of WTO Accession’, GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 237, George Washington University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Dam, Kenneth (1971), The GATT: Law and International Economic Organization, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Drabek, Zdenek and Bacchetta, Marc (2004), ‘Tracing the Effects of WTO Accession on Policy-making in Sovereign States: Preliminary Lessons from the Recent Experience of Transition Countries’, The World Economy, 27(7): 1083–1125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evenett, Simon J. and Primo Braga, Carlos A. (2005), ‘WTO Accession: Lessons From Experience’, Trade Note 22, June 6, International Trade Department, World Bank Group. Accessible at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTRANETTRADE/Resources/Pubs/TradeNote22.pdf.Google Scholar
Finger, J. Michael and Schuler, Philip (2000), ‘Implementation, of Uruguay Round Commitments: The Development Challenge’, The World Economy, 23(5): 511–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finger, J. Michael and Wilson, John S. (2007), ‘Implementing a WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation: What Make Sense?’, Pacific Economic Review, 12(3): 335–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gay, Daniel (2005), ‘Vanuatu's Suspended Accession Bid: Second Thoughts?’, in Gallagher, P., Low, P., and Stoler, A., Managing the Challenges of WTO Participation: 45 Case Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Also available at http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/casestudies_e/case43_e.htm.Google Scholar
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1993), Summary Record of the Second Meeting, Comments by Amb. Yerxa (United States), p. 27. Document SR.48/2. 5 January.Google Scholar
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994), ‘Acceptance of and Accession to the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization’, Meeting at Ministerial level, Annex I, pp. 14–15. Document MTN.TNC/45(MIN). 6 May.Google Scholar
Jackson, John (1969), World Trade and the Law of GATT, New York: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Jawara, Fatoumata and Kwa, Aileen (2004), Behind the Scenes at the WTO: the Real World of International Trade Negotiations and the Lessons of Cancun, London and New York: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Jones, Kent (1981), ‘Issues of NME Participation in the GATT’, 27th Quarterly Report to the Congress and the Trade Policy Committee on Trade Between the United States and the Nonmarket Economy Countries During April–June 1981, USITC Publication 1188, Washington, DC: US International Trade Commission.Google Scholar
Jones, Kent (2004), ‘Russia and the WTO: the Long and Winding Road to Accession’, in Bruner, M. L., Market Democracy in Post-Communist Russia, London: Wisdom House.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Daniel, Kraay, Aart, and Mastruzzi, Massimo (2007), ‘Governance Matters VI: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators’, Working Paper Series WPS 4280, World Bank, Washington, D.C.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kavass, Igor I. (2007), ‘WTO Accession: Procedure, Requirements and Costs’, Journal of World Trade, 41(3): 453–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennett, Maxine (2005), ‘The Principal Legal Obligations of Accession to the World Trade Organization’, in Kennett, Maxine, Evenett, Simon J., and Gage, Jonathan (eds.), ‘Evaluating WTO Accessions: Legal and Economic Perspectives’, draft prepared for the Independent Development Research Centre, the World Trade Institute, Bern, Switzerland, and University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Lacey, Simon (2006), ‘The View from the Other Side of the Table: WTO Accession from the Perspective of WTO Members’, in Streatfeild, Jeremy and Lacey, Simon, New Reflections on International Trade, London: Cameron May.Google Scholar
Langhammer, Rolf J. and Lücke, Matthias (1999), ‘WTO Accession Issues’, The World Economy, 22(6): 837–873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanoszka, Anna (2001), ‘The World Trade Organization Accession Process: Negotiating Participation in a Globalizing Economy’, Journal of World Trade, 35(4): 575–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, Philip (2006), ‘Do We Need an Undertaker for the Single Undertaking? Considering the Angles of Variable Geometry’, in Evenett, Simon and Hoekman, Bernard, Economic Development and Multilateral Trade Cooperation, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Michalopoulos, Constantine (2002), ‘WTO Accession’, in Hoekman, Bernard, Mattoo, Aaditya, and English, Philip, Development, Trade and the WTO: A Handbook, Washington, DC: World Bank, pp. 61–70.Google Scholar
Milgrom, Paul and Roberts, John (1992), Economics, Organization and Management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Mogilevskii, Roma (2004), ‘Is Accession to the World Trade Organization Worthwhile? The Experience of Kyrgyzstan’, Problems of Economic Transition, 47(12): 68–73.Google Scholar
Odell, John S. (ed.) (2006), Negotiating Trade: Developing Countries in the WTO and NAFTA, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostry, Sylvia, Alexandroff, Alan S., and Gomez, Rafael (2002), China and the long march to global trade: the accession of China to the World Trade Organization, London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon.Google Scholar
Prowse, Susan (2002), ‘The Role of International and National Agencies in Trade-related Capacity Building’, The World Economy, 25(9): 1235–1261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, Andrew (2004), ‘Do We Really Know that the WTO Increases Trade?’, American Economic Review, 94(1): 98–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Murray G. (1996), ‘Accession to the WTO: Key Strategic Issues’, in Schott, Jeffrey J. ed., The World Trading System: Challenges Ahead, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Stoler, Andrew L. (2003), ‘The Current State of the WTO’, Speech delivered at the Workshop on the EU, the US and the WTO, Stanford University, 28 February–1 March. Available at http://www.iit.adelaide.edu.au/docs/Stanford.pdf.Google Scholar
Tarr, David G. and Navaretti, Giorgio Barba (2005), ‘Introduction and Summary to Handbook of Trade Policy and WTO Accession for Development in Russia and the CIS’, Policy Research Working Paper Series WPS 3726, Washington, DC: World Bank. Available at http://econ.worldbank.org.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomz, Michael, Goldstein, Judith, and Rivers, Douglas (2007), ‘Do We Really Know that The WTO Increases Trade? Comment’, American Economic Review, 97(5): 2005–2018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations (2006), List of Member States. Available at http://www.un.org/Overview/unmember.html.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO) (1994), ‘Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization’, opened for signature 15 April 1994, 1867 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 January 1995).Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(1997), ‘Leading into the Third Millennium’, Press Release, 18 November.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2002), ‘Accession of Least Developed Countries’, Decision of General Counsel, 10 December, WTO Document WT/L/508.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2003), Note by the Secretariat, Accession to the World Trade Organization, 28 May, WT/ACC/10/Rev.1.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2004), Technical Note on the Accession Process (Revision 2), WT/ACC/10/Rev. 2, Available at www.wto.orgGoogle Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2005a), Technical Note on the Accession Process (Revision 3), WT/ACC/10/Rev. 3, 28 November 2005.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2005b), Technical Note on the Accession Process (Revision 6), WT/ACC/11/Rev. 6. Available at www.wto.org.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2006), ‘How to Become a Member of the WTO’, Available at http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/acces_e.htm.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2007), ‘Lamy Welcomes Cape Verde's Accession’, Press Release, 18 December.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization (WTO)(2008), A Handbook on Accession to the WTO, Prepared by the WTO Secretariat, Geneva: WTO.Google Scholar
Yarbrough, Beth and Yarbrough, Robert (1992), Cooperation and Governance in International Trade: The Strategic Organizational Approach, Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Databases and websites

CIA Handbook, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs

GATT Documents Database, Stanford University. Available at http://gatt.stanford.edu/page/home.

IMF listing of transition economies, www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/110300.htm#I

United Nations, Comtrade database, http://comtrade.un.org/db.

United Nations Membership database, http://www.un.org/geninfo/faq/factsheets/FS25.HTM.

World Bank Governance Index database, http://info.worldbank.org/governance/kkz2004/tables.asp.

World Bank WDI database

World Trade Organization, www.wto.org, Pages for Accessions, Anti-dumping, Developing Countries

WTO trade statistics, www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm